Urolithiasis is a heat-specific disease.Exploring heat-related urolithiasis susceptibility subtypes,economic burden,and modifying factors could assist governments in targeting interventions to reduce the heat-related ...Urolithiasis is a heat-specific disease.Exploring heat-related urolithiasis susceptibility subtypes,economic burden,and modifying factors could assist governments in targeting interventions to reduce the heat-related health risks of urolithiasis morbidity.We collected data on 23,492 patients with upper urinary tract stones(main subtypes of urolithiasis)from 2013 to 2017 in Nanjing,China.We adopted generalized additive quasi-Poisson models to examine the associations between daily mean temperatures and morbidity of upper urinary tract stones,while generalized additive Gaussian models were used to explore the relationships between temperatures and log-transformed medical costs.We examined the modification effects of disease subtypes(kidney and ureteral calculus),sex,and age through stratified analyses and the modif-cation effects of other meteorological factors by introducing interaction terms in the models.We found that short-term summer heat exposure has a statistically significant effect on ureteral calculus morbidity but not on kidney calculus morbidity.For ureter calculus,a 1℃ temperature increase was associated with a 4.36%(95%confidence interval[CI]:1.94%,6.83%)increase in daily hospitalization and a 5.44%(95%CI:2.71%,8.25%)increase in daily medical costs.The attributable fraction associated with heat(greater than the median value of daily mean temperature,26.8℃)was 7.85%(95%empirical confidence interval[eCI]:3.64%,11.44%)for hospitalization and 9.36%(95%eCI:4.91%,13.14%)for medical costs.The effects of heat on ureter calculus morbidity were significantly higher among the males and those with high sunshine duration than females and those with low sunshine duration.Short-term summer heat exposure was associated with increased morbidity and medical costs of ureteral calculus.Relevant government organizations should take effective intervention measures,including community health education,to reduce the health hazards and economic losses caused by heat.展开更多
Flexible strain sensors with high sensitivity,wide detection range,and low detection limit have continuously attracted great interest due to their tremendous application potential in areas such as health/medical-care,...Flexible strain sensors with high sensitivity,wide detection range,and low detection limit have continuously attracted great interest due to their tremendous application potential in areas such as health/medical-care,human-machine interface,as well as safety and security.While both of a high sensitivity and a wide working range are desired key parameters for a strain sensor,they are usually contrary to each other to be achieved on the same sensor due to the tightly structure dependence of both of them.Here,a flexible strain sensor with both high sensitivity and wide strain detection range is prepared based on the design of an integrated membrane containing both of parallel aligned and randomly aligned carbon nanofibers(CNFs).The parallel aligned CNF membrane(p-CNF)exhibits a low strain detection limit and high sensitivity,while the random aligned CNF membrane(r-CNF)exhibits a large strain detection range.Taking the advantages of both p-CNF and r-CNF,the strain sensor with stacked p-CNF and r-CNF(p/r-CNF)exhibits both high sensitivity and wide working range.Its gauge factor(GF)is 1,272 for strains under 0.5%and 2,266 for strain from 70%to 100%.At the same time,it can work in a wide strain range of 0.005%to 100%,fulfilling the requirements for accurately detecting full-range human motions.We demonstrated its applications in the recognition of facial expressions and joint movements.Furtherly,we constructed an intelligent lip-language recognition system,which can accurately track phonetic symbols and may help people with language disabilities,proving the potential of this strain sensor in health management and medical assistance.Besides,we foresee that the dual-alignment structure design of the p/r-CNF strain sensor may also be applied in the design of other high performance sensors.展开更多
Identifying temperature-sensitive diseases,vulnerable populations and attributable disease burden is crucial for the development and implementation of tailored climate change adaptation strategies in the context of cl...Identifying temperature-sensitive diseases,vulnerable populations and attributable disease burden is crucial for the development and implementation of tailored climate change adaptation strategies in the context of climate change,especially through both mortality and morbidity analysis by using the data from same regions and populations.We re-analyzed and outlined the whole picture of the impacts of extreme temperatures on both mortality and morbidity among various populations and regions,based on the researches from a well-planned national project of Scientific Survey of Regional Meteorological Sensitive Diseases(SRMSD)with consistent methodology in China.The twenty-four representative regions of the SRMSD project cover all eleven geographical meteorological divisions in the country,including urban and rural areas.In addition to circulatory and respiratory diseases,we found that neurological diseases,injuries,digestive diseases,endocrine diseases,genitourinary diseases,skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases were sensitive to extreme heat,while digestive diseases were sensitive to extreme cold.The extreme temperature-sensitive diseases and the attributable disease burden varied by region.Females and the elderly people(65 years old and above)were more vulnerable to extreme heat when using mortality as a health outcome,whereas males and the young and middle-aged adults were more vulnerable to morbidity risk from heat.Our findings provide important scientific evidence for regional distribution of temperature-sensitive diseases and identification of vulnerable populations in China.It provides evidence and implications of developing regional heat/cold-exposure intervention policies,especially for hospital emergency departments and ambulance services during hot seasons.展开更多
Climate change and its impact on population health have been well explored in China in recent years,especially health risk assessments such as studying its impact on the transmission and development of climate-sensiti...Climate change and its impact on population health have been well explored in China in recent years,especially health risk assessments such as studying its impact on the transmission and development of climate-sensitive infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases.However,knowledge gaps including using morbidity as health indicators(e.g.hospitalisations,ED visits,and ambulance call-outs),identifying disease attributable contributions to climate variability and burden of diseases due to climate change,calculating related healthcare costs,and developing climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies need to be addressed.Future research directions could focus on both mitigation and health adaptation studies,such as exploring active transportation and green hospitals,studying health co-benefits,identifying vulnerable populations,prioritizing resource allocation,building healthcare capacity and capability,evaluating intervention effect,developing tailored risk communication strategies and community health education packages for vulnerable communities in the context of climate change.展开更多
Evidence of the impact of ambient temperatures on emergency ambulance calls (EACs) in developing countries contributes to the improvement and complete understanding of the acute health effects of temperatures. This st...Evidence of the impact of ambient temperatures on emergency ambulance calls (EACs) in developing countries contributes to the improvement and complete understanding of the acute health effects of temperatures. This study aimed to examine the impacts and burden of heat on EACs in China, quantify the contributions of regional modifiers, and identify the vulnerable populations. A semi-parametric generalized additive model with a Poisson distribution was used to analyze the city-specific impacts of the daily maximum temperature (Tmax) on EACs in June–August in 2014–2017. Stratified analyses by sex and age were performed to identify the vulnerable sub-populations. Meta-analysis was undertaken to illustrate the pooled associations. Further subgroup analysis, stratified by climate, latitude, and per capita disposable income (PCDI), and meta-regression analysis were conducted to explore the regional heterogeneity and quantify the contributions of possible modifiers. The city- and region-specific attributable fractions of EACs attributable to heat were calculated. Strong associations were observed between the daily Tmax and total EACs in all cities. A total of 11.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 11.2%–12.3%) of EACs were attributed to high temperatures in ten Chinese cities, and the central region with a low level of PCDI had the highest attributable fraction of 17.8% (95% CI: 17.2%–18.4%). People living in the central region with lower PCDI, and those aged 18–44 and 0–6 years were more vulnerable to heat than the others. The combined effects of PCDI, temperature, and latitude contributed 88.6% of the regional heterogeneity. The results complemented the understanding of the burden of EACs attributable to heat in developing countries and the quantitative contribution of regional modifiers.展开更多
Dear Editor, Coxsackievirus A16 （CV A16） and enterovirus 71 （EV71） are currently the two primary causative agents of hand- foot-and-mouth disease （HFMD） （Solomon et al., 2010; Mao et al., 2014）, threatening he...Dear Editor, Coxsackievirus A16 （CV A16） and enterovirus 71 （EV71） are currently the two primary causative agents of hand- foot-and-mouth disease （HFMD） （Solomon et al., 2010; Mao et al., 2014）, threatening health of children world- wide. They both belong to the Enterovirus genus of the Picornaviridae family, and have single-stranded positive- sense RNA genomes of about 7.5 kilobases （kb） in length. As with other positive-strand RNA viruses, the genome rep- lication process ofCV A16 is carried out by a membrane- associated replication complex with the virally encoded RNA-dependent RNA polymerase （RdRP） as the essential catalytic enzyme.展开更多
Climate change with increasing temperature is making a significant impact on human health, including more heat-related diseases, and increasing the burden on the healthcare system. Although many studies have explored ...Climate change with increasing temperature is making a significant impact on human health, including more heat-related diseases, and increasing the burden on the healthcare system. Although many studies have explored the association between increasing temperatures and negative health outcomes, research on the associated costs of heat-related diseases remains relatively sparse. Furthermore, estimations of future costs associated with heat-attributable hospital healthcare have not been well explored. This study used a distributed lag nonlinear model to estimate heat-attributable hospital healthcare costs in Perth, Western Australia. Using 2006–2012 as the baseline, future costings for 2026–2032 and 2046–2052 were estimated under RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5. Higher temperatures were found to be associated with increased hospital healthcare costs. The total hospital costs attributable to heat over the baseline period 2006–2012 was estimated to be 79.5 million AUD, with costs for mental health hospitalizations being the largest contributor of the heat-related conditions examined. Costs are estimated to increase substantially to 125.8–129.1 million AUD in 2026–2032, and 174.1–190.3 million AUD by midcentury under climate change scenarios. Our findings of a notable burden of heat-attributable healthcare costs now and in the future emphasize the importance of climate change adaptation measures to reduce the adverse health effects of increasing temperatures and heat exposure on the people of Perth.展开更多
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(42205184)the National Key R&D Program of China(2018YFA0606200)the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission General Project(A2021256).
文摘Urolithiasis is a heat-specific disease.Exploring heat-related urolithiasis susceptibility subtypes,economic burden,and modifying factors could assist governments in targeting interventions to reduce the heat-related health risks of urolithiasis morbidity.We collected data on 23,492 patients with upper urinary tract stones(main subtypes of urolithiasis)from 2013 to 2017 in Nanjing,China.We adopted generalized additive quasi-Poisson models to examine the associations between daily mean temperatures and morbidity of upper urinary tract stones,while generalized additive Gaussian models were used to explore the relationships between temperatures and log-transformed medical costs.We examined the modification effects of disease subtypes(kidney and ureteral calculus),sex,and age through stratified analyses and the modif-cation effects of other meteorological factors by introducing interaction terms in the models.We found that short-term summer heat exposure has a statistically significant effect on ureteral calculus morbidity but not on kidney calculus morbidity.For ureter calculus,a 1℃ temperature increase was associated with a 4.36%(95%confidence interval[CI]:1.94%,6.83%)increase in daily hospitalization and a 5.44%(95%CI:2.71%,8.25%)increase in daily medical costs.The attributable fraction associated with heat(greater than the median value of daily mean temperature,26.8℃)was 7.85%(95%empirical confidence interval[eCI]:3.64%,11.44%)for hospitalization and 9.36%(95%eCI:4.91%,13.14%)for medical costs.The effects of heat on ureter calculus morbidity were significantly higher among the males and those with high sunshine duration than females and those with low sunshine duration.Short-term summer heat exposure was associated with increased morbidity and medical costs of ureteral calculus.Relevant government organizations should take effective intervention measures,including community health education,to reduce the health hazards and economic losses caused by heat.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.52125201 and 21975141)the National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2020YFA0210702).
文摘Flexible strain sensors with high sensitivity,wide detection range,and low detection limit have continuously attracted great interest due to their tremendous application potential in areas such as health/medical-care,human-machine interface,as well as safety and security.While both of a high sensitivity and a wide working range are desired key parameters for a strain sensor,they are usually contrary to each other to be achieved on the same sensor due to the tightly structure dependence of both of them.Here,a flexible strain sensor with both high sensitivity and wide strain detection range is prepared based on the design of an integrated membrane containing both of parallel aligned and randomly aligned carbon nanofibers(CNFs).The parallel aligned CNF membrane(p-CNF)exhibits a low strain detection limit and high sensitivity,while the random aligned CNF membrane(r-CNF)exhibits a large strain detection range.Taking the advantages of both p-CNF and r-CNF,the strain sensor with stacked p-CNF and r-CNF(p/r-CNF)exhibits both high sensitivity and wide working range.Its gauge factor(GF)is 1,272 for strains under 0.5%and 2,266 for strain from 70%to 100%.At the same time,it can work in a wide strain range of 0.005%to 100%,fulfilling the requirements for accurately detecting full-range human motions.We demonstrated its applications in the recognition of facial expressions and joint movements.Furtherly,we constructed an intelligent lip-language recognition system,which can accurately track phonetic symbols and may help people with language disabilities,proving the potential of this strain sensor in health management and medical assistance.Besides,we foresee that the dual-alignment structure design of the p/r-CNF strain sensor may also be applied in the design of other high performance sensors.
基金This study was sponsored by the Science and Technology Fundamental Resources Investigation Program(2017FY101201).
文摘Identifying temperature-sensitive diseases,vulnerable populations and attributable disease burden is crucial for the development and implementation of tailored climate change adaptation strategies in the context of climate change,especially through both mortality and morbidity analysis by using the data from same regions and populations.We re-analyzed and outlined the whole picture of the impacts of extreme temperatures on both mortality and morbidity among various populations and regions,based on the researches from a well-planned national project of Scientific Survey of Regional Meteorological Sensitive Diseases(SRMSD)with consistent methodology in China.The twenty-four representative regions of the SRMSD project cover all eleven geographical meteorological divisions in the country,including urban and rural areas.In addition to circulatory and respiratory diseases,we found that neurological diseases,injuries,digestive diseases,endocrine diseases,genitourinary diseases,skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases were sensitive to extreme heat,while digestive diseases were sensitive to extreme cold.The extreme temperature-sensitive diseases and the attributable disease burden varied by region.Females and the elderly people(65 years old and above)were more vulnerable to extreme heat when using mortality as a health outcome,whereas males and the young and middle-aged adults were more vulnerable to morbidity risk from heat.Our findings provide important scientific evidence for regional distribution of temperature-sensitive diseases and identification of vulnerable populations in China.It provides evidence and implications of developing regional heat/cold-exposure intervention policies,especially for hospital emergency departments and ambulance services during hot seasons.
文摘Climate change and its impact on population health have been well explored in China in recent years,especially health risk assessments such as studying its impact on the transmission and development of climate-sensitive infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases.However,knowledge gaps including using morbidity as health indicators(e.g.hospitalisations,ED visits,and ambulance call-outs),identifying disease attributable contributions to climate variability and burden of diseases due to climate change,calculating related healthcare costs,and developing climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies need to be addressed.Future research directions could focus on both mitigation and health adaptation studies,such as exploring active transportation and green hospitals,studying health co-benefits,identifying vulnerable populations,prioritizing resource allocation,building healthcare capacity and capability,evaluating intervention effect,developing tailored risk communication strategies and community health education packages for vulnerable communities in the context of climate change.
基金This study was supported by the Special Foundation of Basic Science and Technology Resources Survey from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(2017FY101201,2017FY101206).
文摘Evidence of the impact of ambient temperatures on emergency ambulance calls (EACs) in developing countries contributes to the improvement and complete understanding of the acute health effects of temperatures. This study aimed to examine the impacts and burden of heat on EACs in China, quantify the contributions of regional modifiers, and identify the vulnerable populations. A semi-parametric generalized additive model with a Poisson distribution was used to analyze the city-specific impacts of the daily maximum temperature (Tmax) on EACs in June–August in 2014–2017. Stratified analyses by sex and age were performed to identify the vulnerable sub-populations. Meta-analysis was undertaken to illustrate the pooled associations. Further subgroup analysis, stratified by climate, latitude, and per capita disposable income (PCDI), and meta-regression analysis were conducted to explore the regional heterogeneity and quantify the contributions of possible modifiers. The city- and region-specific attributable fractions of EACs attributable to heat were calculated. Strong associations were observed between the daily Tmax and total EACs in all cities. A total of 11.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 11.2%–12.3%) of EACs were attributed to high temperatures in ten Chinese cities, and the central region with a low level of PCDI had the highest attributable fraction of 17.8% (95% CI: 17.2%–18.4%). People living in the central region with lower PCDI, and those aged 18–44 and 0–6 years were more vulnerable to heat than the others. The combined effects of PCDI, temperature, and latitude contributed 88.6% of the regional heterogeneity. The results complemented the understanding of the burden of EACs attributable to heat in developing countries and the quantitative contribution of regional modifiers.
文摘Dear Editor, Coxsackievirus A16 （CV A16） and enterovirus 71 （EV71） are currently the two primary causative agents of hand- foot-and-mouth disease （HFMD） （Solomon et al., 2010; Mao et al., 2014）, threatening health of children world- wide. They both belong to the Enterovirus genus of the Picornaviridae family, and have single-stranded positive- sense RNA genomes of about 7.5 kilobases （kb） in length. As with other positive-strand RNA viruses, the genome rep- lication process ofCV A16 is carried out by a membrane- associated replication complex with the virally encoded RNA-dependent RNA polymerase （RdRP） as the essential catalytic enzyme.
基金This study was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council(APP1145239).
文摘Climate change with increasing temperature is making a significant impact on human health, including more heat-related diseases, and increasing the burden on the healthcare system. Although many studies have explored the association between increasing temperatures and negative health outcomes, research on the associated costs of heat-related diseases remains relatively sparse. Furthermore, estimations of future costs associated with heat-attributable hospital healthcare have not been well explored. This study used a distributed lag nonlinear model to estimate heat-attributable hospital healthcare costs in Perth, Western Australia. Using 2006–2012 as the baseline, future costings for 2026–2032 and 2046–2052 were estimated under RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5. Higher temperatures were found to be associated with increased hospital healthcare costs. The total hospital costs attributable to heat over the baseline period 2006–2012 was estimated to be 79.5 million AUD, with costs for mental health hospitalizations being the largest contributor of the heat-related conditions examined. Costs are estimated to increase substantially to 125.8–129.1 million AUD in 2026–2032, and 174.1–190.3 million AUD by midcentury under climate change scenarios. Our findings of a notable burden of heat-attributable healthcare costs now and in the future emphasize the importance of climate change adaptation measures to reduce the adverse health effects of increasing temperatures and heat exposure on the people of Perth.
