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ABSTRACTObjective:We analyzed characteristics of tornado-related injuries and medical impact on a county-level hospital in China in June 23, 2016. The objective of this study was to describe and analyze local government rescue responses following the tornado.Methods:County hospital medical records of 288 tornado-related injury patients were collected. Descriptive analyses to study injury characteristics and associated risk factors were performed.Results:Of the studied population, 84% of the wounded were older than 45 years. Only 30 (10.4%) people were sent to the hospital for treatment within 3 hours following the disaster. Heavy objects or collapsing houses accounted for 191 (66.3%) of the documented injuries. The proportion of people with resulting brain injuries was 46.2% of the entire injured population, and the incidence of lower extremity injuries was 27.8%. A total of 89.6% of the wounded had skin and soft tissue injuries. Multiple injuries were found in 129 (44.8%) people and 156 had a single injury (54.2%), and 3 cases with acute stress disorder were admitted to the hospital.Conclusions:Preparation plans, including tornado warnings, prevention, and rescue, are a basic requirement for the mitigation of tornado-related injuries. Protection awareness of tornado disasters is also critical to ensure injury prevention.

Rapid industrialization and environmental and lifestyle modifications in China have led to the prevalence of asthma in children showing an increasing trend. However, few studies have assessed the influence of residential geographic location on asthma symptoms in this population. We aimed to explore the influence of residential location on asthma symptoms of children in Shanghai, China.

Retirement has a heterogeneous impact depending on gender and occupation. This study aimed to analyze and evaluate the heterogeneity and potential mechanism of retirement on the biomedical risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Physical examination data from 2017 to 2020 were extracted from a hospital database in Shanghai. The fluctuation tendency of biomedical risk factor indicators for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases was evaluated by gender and occupation shortly after retirement using fuzzy regression discontinuity design and was analyzed for internal mechanism. Retirement had a significantly negative influence on body weight (β = −3.943), body mass index (β = −2.152), and diastolic blood pressure (β = −5.180) in women working in public institutions or state-owned enterprises, but a positive influence on their blood glucose level (β = 0.696). Retirement had a significantly positive effect on high-density lipoprotein in men (β = 0.138), particularly those employed in private enterprises (β = 0.339). The internal influencing mechanism of retirement showed that the health attention effect after retirement among women in government or public institutions on diastolic blood pressure reduction was better than that before retirement. The body weight, body mass index, and diastolic blood pressure of women in public institutions or state-owned enterprises were reduced at retirement; however, they were exposed to higher risks of elevated blood glucose level. Conversely, high-density lipoprotein level, which is protective against cardiovascular disease, was increased in men at retirement. Retirement has a heterogeneous effect on cardiovascular and metabolic health among people of different genders or occupational experiences. Retirees with low health awareness should be targeted for behavioral interventions and monitored conscientiously by health providers during retirement adaptation.

For Chinese community pharmacists, there is a lack of guidance before and after the drug treatment process for community residents. This study aimed to investigate community pharmacists’ role in hypertension management. One hundred ninety-six hypertensive patients were randomly selected from the studied community. For patients in the intervention group, monthly meetings were scheduled with a community pharmacist. Patients in the non-intervention group received standard care from their physicians. In the intervention group, the percentage using information from pharmacists increased significantly, from 54.3% to 94.2% (P< .05). Awareness of self-management was also enhanced, with community self-management group attendance increasing from 53.4% to 77.7% (P< .05), but the non-intervention group did not change significantly. Hypertensive patients’ beliefs about community pharmacists also improved significantly. Hypertension status also showed a significant improvement, whereas for participants without intervention, it worsened over time. In addition to increasing knowledge regarding drug use, care provided by community pharmacists can also significantly improve blood pressure status. For those who did not receive intervention, a disproportionate level of health deterioration could be seen.

As nations urbanize, novel ways are needed to manage increasing automobile traffic in city centers. One innovative and efficient way of reducing traffic congestion is to charge automobiles when they enter congested areas of a city, a strategy referred to as congestion pricing. A number of cities worldwide have adopted congestion pricing with great success. To varying degrees, congestion pricing has lowered congestion, increased revenue for public transportation systems, reduced pollution, and increased residents’ levels of physical activity. New York City is also adopting congestion pricing, and considered a large number of models for doing so.