Quality of Life and Chinese Medicine──The Development of Health Status Measures for Chinese Medicine

Quality of Life (QOL) is a multiphase conception, including physical, mental and social factors, and can overall reflect health status of the human. At present, QOL has become a relevant measure of efficacy of treatment in clinical trials. Its use is spreading, and its importance is growing as a valid indicator of whether or not a medical treatment is

Pesticide exposures and respiratory health in general populations

Human exposures to pesticides can occur in the workplace,in the household and through the ambient environment.While several articles have reviewed the impact of pesticide exposures on human respiratory health in occupational settings,to the best of our knowledge,this article is the first one to review published studies on the association between pesticide exposures and human respiratory health in the general populations.In this article,we critically reviewed evidences up to date studying the associations between non-occupational pesticide exposures and respiratory health in general populations.This article also highlighted questions arising from these studies,including our recent analyses using the data from the Canadian Health Measures Survey（CHMS）,for future research.We found few studies have addressed the impact of environmental pesticide exposures on respiratory health,especially on lung function,in general populations.In the studies using the data from CHMS Cycle 1,exposures to OP insecticides,pyrethroid insecticides,and the organochlorine pesticide DDT were associated with impaired lung function in the Canadian general population,but no significant associations were observed for the herbicide 2,4-D.Future research should focus on the potential age-specific and pesticide-specific effect on respiratory health in the general population,and repeated longitudinal study design is critical for assessing the temporal variations in pesticide exposures.Research findings from current studies of non-occupational pesticide exposures and their health impact in general population will help to improve the role of regulatory policies in mitigating pesticide-related public health problems,and thereafter providing greater benefit to the general population.

Mathematical modeling of the dynamics of COVID-19 variants of concern:Asymptotic and finite-time perspectives

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen multiple waves,in part due to the implementation and relaxation of social distancing measures by the public health authorities around the world,and also caused by the emergence of new variants of concern(VOCs)of the SARS-Cov-2 virus.As the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to transition into an endemic state,how to manage outbreaks caused by newly emerging VOCs has become one of the primary public health issues.Using mathematical modeling tools,we investigated the dynamics of VOCs,both in a general theoretical framework and based on observations from public health data of past COVID-19 waves,with the objective of understanding key factors that determine the dominance and coexistence of VOCs.Our results show that the transmissibility advantage of a new VOC is a main factor for it to become dominant.Additionally,our modeling study indicates that the initial number of people infected with the new VOC plays an important role in determining the size of the epidemic.Our results also support the evidence that public health measures targeting the newly emerging VOC taken in the early phase of its spread can limit the size of the epidemic caused by the new VOC(Wu et al.,2139Wu,Scarabel,Majeed,Bragazzi,&Orbinski,Wu et al.,2021).

Effective mitigation strategy in early stage of COVID-19 pandemic in China

In the past five months,success in control the national epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)has been witnessed in China.The implementation of public health measures accounts for the success which include different interventions in the early or later stages of the outbreak.It is clear that although not all measures were universally effective worldwide,their achievements have been significant.More solidarity is needed to deal with this global pandemic with more learning and understanding.Understanding which of the public health interventions implemented in China were effective may provide ideas for international epidemic control.