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Background: Exposure to fine or respirable particulate matter has been linked to an elevated risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, the association between exposure to particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 1 μm (PM 1 ) and GDM has not been explored., Methods: We conducted a cohort study involving 60,173 pregnant women from nine hospitals in Beijing, China, from February 2015 to April 2021. Daily concentrations of PM 1 and ozone were obtained from a validated spatiotemporal artificial intelligence model. We used a modified Poisson regression combined with distributed lag models to estimate the association between weekly-specific PM 1 exposure and the risk of GDM after adjusting for individual-level covariates., Results: Among the 51,299 pregnant women included in the final analysis, 4008 were diagnosed with GDM. Maternal exposure to PM 1 during preconception and gestational periods was generally associated with an increased risk of GDM. The most pronounced associations were identified during the 12th week before pregnancy, the 5th-8th weeks of the first trimester, and the 23rd-24th weeks of the second trimester. Each 10 μg/m 3 increase in PM 1 was associated with a relative risk of GDM of 1.65 (95 % CI: 1.59, 1.72) during the preconception period, 1.67 (95 % CI: 1.61, 1.73) in the first trimester, 1.52 (95 % CI: 1.47, 1.58) in the second trimester, and 2.54 (95 % CI: 2.45, 2.63) when considering the first and second trimester combined., Conclusions: Exposure to PM 1 before and during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of GDM, particularly during the 12 weeks before pregnancy and gestational weeks 5-8 and 23-24., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Ammonia (NH 3 ) plays an important role in the formation of atmospheric particulate matter, but the contribution of traffic-related emissions remains unclear, particularly in megacities with a large number of vehicles. Taking the opportunity of the stringent COVID-19 lockdowns implemented in Beijing and Shanghai in 2022, this study aims to estimate the traffic-related NH 3 emissions in these two megacities based on satellite observations. Differences between urban and suburban areas during the lockdown and non-lockdown periods are compared. It was found that despite different dominating sources, the overall NH 3 concentrations in urban and suburban areas were at a similar level, and the lockdown resulted in a more prominent decrease in urban areas, where traffic activities were most heavily affected. The traffic-related contribution to the total emission was estimated to be ∼30% in megacities, and ∼40% in urban areas, which are about 2-10 times higher than that in previous studies. The findings indicate that the traffic-related NH 3 emissions have been significantly underestimated in previous studies and may play a more critical role in the formation of air pollution in megacities, especially in winter, when agricultural emissions are relatively low. This study highlights the importance of traffic-related NH 3 emissions in Chinese megacities and the need to reassess the emissions and their impacts on air quality., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: In order to better understand the imaging of severe trauma in sport, this study describes the imaging modalities utilized to image athletes who experienced severe traumatic injuries at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games 2022, the distribution of these modalities in relation to the sporting facilities, and the types of injuries imaged in each sport. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis with descriptive tables and figures, performed on a single population (athletes of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games 2022). Results: Of the 2871 athletes in the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, there were 40 athletes with severe injuries who underwent medical imaging. MRI was used more often than Radiography or CT. Athletes at venues without MRI on site had to be transferred to adjacent hospitals for care. Alpine and Freestyle skiing athletes experienced the majority of severe traumatic injuries at this Olympic Games, and the majority of injuries were to the lower limb. Conclusions: Access to medical imaging for severely injured athletes is a critical consideration in the organization of any sporting event. MRI in particular is highly utilized in this population., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: LE serves as Head of Medical Sciences in the International Olympic Committee. TS serves as scientific manager in the Medical and Scientific Department of the International Olympic Committee. BBF serves as a member of the International Olympic Committee Medical and Scientific Games Group.

Background: While PM 2.5 has been shown to impair cognitive function, physical activity (PA) is known to enhance it. Nonetheless, considering the increased inhalation of PM 2.5 during exercise, the potential of PA to counteract the detrimental effects of PM 2.5 , along with the underlying hemodynamic mechanisms, remains uncertain., Methods: We conducted a double-blinded, randomized controlled trial among healthy young adults in Beijing, China. Ninety-three participants were randomly allocated to groups experiencing different intensities of PA interventions, and either subjected to purified or unpurified air conditions. Cognitive function was measured by the Color-Word Matching Stroop task, and the hemodynamic response was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy during participants performed the Stroop task both before and after the intervention. Linear mixed-effect models were used to estimate the impact of PA and PM 2.5 on cognitive function and hemodynamic response., Results: The reaction time for congruent and incongruent Stroop tasks improved by - 80.714 (95% CI: -136.733, -24.695) and - 105.843 (95% CI: -188.6, -23.085) milliseconds after high-intensity interval training (HIIT) intervention. PM 2.5 and HIIT had interaction effects on cognition, such that every 1 μg/m 3 increase in PM 2.5 attenuated the benefits of HIIT on reaction time by 2.231 (95% CI: 0.523, 3.938) and 3.305 (95% CI: 0.791, 5.819) milliseconds for congruent and incongruent Stroop tasks. Moreover, we divided participants into high and low PM 2.5 exposure groups based on average PM 2.5 concentration (32.980 μg/m 3 ), and found that HIIT intervention in high PM 2.5 concentration led to 69.897 (95% CI: 9.317, 130.476) and 99.269 (95% CI: 10.054, 188.485) milliseconds increased in the reaction time of congruent and incongruent Stroop, compared with the control group among low PM 2.5 . Furthermore, we found a significant interaction effects of PM 2.5 and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) on the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus (DLPFC). PM 2.5 and HIIT had a significant interaction effect on the DLPFC., Conclusions: HIIT improved cognitive function, but the cognitive benefits of HIIT were attenuated or even reversed under high PM 2.5 exposure. The activation of the DLPFC and MFG could serve as hemodynamic mechanisms to explain the joint effect of PA and PM 2.5 ., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

With the rapid development of China's economy, the process of industrialization and urbanization is accelerating, and environmental pollution is becoming more and more serious. The urban agglomerations (UAs) are the fastest growing economy and are also areas with serious air pollution. Based on the monthly mean PM 2.5 concentration data of 20 UAs in China from 2015 to 2019, the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of PM 2.5 were analyzed in UAs. The effects of natural and social factors on PM 2.5 concentrations in 20 UAs were quantified using the geographic detector. The results showed that (1) most UAs in China showed the most severe pollution in winter and the least in summer. Seasonal differences were most significant in the Central Henan and Central Shanxi UAs. However, the PM 2.5 was highest in March in the central Yunnan UA, and the Harbin-Changchun and mid-southern Liaoning UAs had the highest PM 2.5 in October. (2) The highest PM 2.5 concentrations were located in northern China, with an overall decreasing trend of pollution. Among them, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, central Shanxi, central Henan, and Shandong Peninsula UAs had the highest concentrations of PM 2.5 . Although most of the UAs had severe pollution in winter, the central Yunnan, Beibu Gulf, and the West Coast of the Strait UAs had lower PM 2.5 concentrations in winter. These areas are mountainous, have high temperatures, and are subject to land and sea breezes, which makes the pollutants more conducive to diffusion. (3) In most UAs, socioeconomic factors such as social electricity consumption, car ownership, and the use of foreign investment are the main factors affecting PM 2.5 concentration. However, PM 2.5 in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are chiefly influenced by natural factors such as temperature and precipitation.

This study focuses on the social integration of the pre-1970 first-generation migrants in reformist China, who were born before the year 1970 while getting old in the destination cities. The pre-1970 first-generation migrants are not a homogeneous group but are composed of: (a) those over 45 years old and still working but facing age discrimination; and (b) the elderly granny as nanny assuming the domestic and child-care work for their sons or daughters in the destination cities. We conceptualized and re-defined the aging migrants' social integration into three dimensions (i.e., participation practices, communication contacts, and subjective perceptions), and used the 2017 Migrant Dynamics Monitoring Survey (MDMS) data from Beijing to measure and explain the varied integration levels among a total of 1267 aging migrant samples in the Beijing metropolis. It is proven that housing tenure matters and housing tenure entitlement would be conductive to beefing up aging migrants' integration. However, informal housing should not be "stigmatized" as a segregated world, since those dwelling in the informal housing have reported a higher probability of perceiving a fully integrated status (namely subjective well-being, SWB) than those living in the dormitory-like housing. Additionally, an employment-income paradox is found, which shows that higher economic achievement is NOT equivalent to a higher social integration status for the aging migrants.

In this study, a framework for ecological risk assessment based on ecosystem service values and risk probability was established. Remote sensing was used to estimate the value of ecosystem services at the regional scale. Considering the natural and anthropogenic factors and using the entropy weight method to assign weights, probability index was constructed. In addition, multiple scenarios based on the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) method were simulated to reduce subjective uncertainty in the assessment. The results showed that the ecosystem service values generated by the gas regulation value accounted for the largest proportion, with a ratio of 46% in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. From 2005 to 2015, the value of ecosystem services decreased, falling by 2.5 × 10 7 Yuan. The level of ecological risk was relatively high, with a corresponding area ratio of 32.89%. Spatially, the areas with high risk were concentrated in the southeastern areas, and areas with relatively low risk were distributed in the western and northern areas. This high risk was probably caused by urbanization which was characterized by reduction of farmland and increase in impervious surface. Multi-scenario simulation showed that the areas of unstable ecological risk zones covered 30% and were mainly concentrated in the surroundings of developing cities. In areas of unstable risk distribution, the relationship between development and protection should be considered. This framework increases the reliability and practicability of ecological risk assessment results and has potential application value for regional risk control in the context of urbanization., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Particle number size distribution (PNSD) is of importance for understanding the mechanisms of particle growth, haze formation and climate impacts. However, the measurements of PNSD aloft in megacities are very limited. Here we report the first simultaneous winter measurements of size-resolved particle number concentrations along with collocated gaseous species and aerosol composition at ground level and 260 m in Beijing. Our study showed that the vertical differences of particle number concentrations between ground level and aloft varied significantly as a function of particle size throughout the study. Further analysis illustrated the impacts of boundary dynamics and meteorological conditions on the vertical differences of PNSD. In particular, the temperature and relative humidity inversions were one of the most important factors by decoupling the boundary layer into different sources and processes. Positive matrix factorization analysis identified six sources of PNSD at both ground level and city aloft. The local source emissions dominantly contributed to Aitken-mode particles, and showed the largest vertical gradients in the city. Comparatively, the regional particles were highly correlated between ground level and city aloft, and the vertical differences were relatively stable throughout the day. Our results point towards a complex vertical evolution of PNSD due to the changes in boundary layer dynamics, meteorological conditions, sources, and processes in megacities., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In order to reveal the regional characteristics of nucleosides and amino acids in Elaphuri Davidiani Cornu,39 samples of Elaphuri Davidiani Cornu collected from 4 different regions were analyzed by UPLC-QTRAP ~®/MS2 method followed by orthogonal partial least-squares discrimination analysis( OPLS-DA) and cluster analysis( CA). The results showed all the samples contained abundant nucleosides and amino acids,with the total content of 45. 09 μg·g~(-1) and 634. 80 μg·g-1,respectively. The samples presented significant regional differences in the contents of individual components,and the main differential components included Ura,Hpro,Thr,Glu,G5 P,2'-dG,Adeno,Met,Ade,Gln,Orni,Phe,2'-dA,Hit,Lys,and Ile. Among them,Ura,Met,Glu,and Ile had the highest content in the samples from Dafeng in Jiangsu,Qinhu in Jiangsu,Beijing,and Shishou in Hubei,respectively. OPLS-DA and CA demonstrated that all the samples of Elaphuri Davidiani Cornu could be divided into three categories,reflecting the regional characteristics. The results indicated that the accumulation of nucleosides and amino acids in Elaphuri Davidiani Cornu was closely related to its habitat,providing a useful reference for the research on the quality formation,quality evaluation and control,as well as the comprehensive utilization of Elaphuri Davidiani Cornu. The findings suggested that the content factors of Ura,Met,Glu,and Ile could be included into the quality standard system of Elaphuri Davidiani Cornu as the characteristics of medicinal materials from different regions.

Based on the concentrations of ten heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn, Fe) in 144 road dust samples collected from 36 sites across 4 seasons from 2016 to 2017 in Beijing, this study systematically analyzed the levels and main sources of health risks in terms of their temporal and spatial variations. A combination of receptor models (positive matrix factorization and multilinear engine-2), human health risk assessment models, and Monte Carlo simulations were used to apportion the seasonal variation of the health risks associated with these heavy metals. While non-carcinogenic risks were generally acceptable, Cr and Ni induced cautionary carcinogenic risks (CR) to children (confidence levels was approximately 80% and 95%, respectively).. Additionally, fuel combustion posed cautionary CR to children in all seasons, while the level of CR from other sources varied, depending on the seasons. Heavy metal concentrations were the most influential variables for uncertainties, followed by ingestion rate and skin adherence factor. The values and spatial patterns of health risks were influenced by the spatial pattern of risks from each source., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

To analyze the temporal variations of heavy metals, health risk, and source-specific health risk, 24 road dust samples were collected from Beijing in each month in two years. The temporal variations of Hg, Pb, and Ni were higher than other heavy metals. Most heavy metals reached their highest concentrations either in winter or in spring, then the concentrations decreased and reached the lowest values in autumn. Human health risk assessment (HHRA) model showed that As, Cr, and Ni might pose cautionary carcinogenic risk (CR) to children (CR > 10 -6 ). CR for adults were only 0.15 to 0.19 times of that for children. Four sources were identified based on positive matrix factorization model and HHRA model, they were traffic exhaust, fuel combustion, construction, and use of pesticides and fertilizers. Influenced by the difference of carcinogenicity of heavy metals, traffic exhaust contributed the largest to heavy metals (36.02%, over 42.24% higher than other sources), while contributions of fuel combustion to CR (36.95%) was similar to traffic exhaust (37.17%). Monte-Carlo simulation showed that the 95th percentile of probability density functions of CR posed by Cr and Ni from each source were 9.90 × 10 -5 to 2.64 × 10 -4 , posing cautionary carcinogenic risk to children. The seasonal change of CR varied among different sources. CR from use of pesticides and fertilizers in spring was 35.06 times of that in winter, and that from fuel combustion in winter was 1.15-2.40 times of that in other seasons. CR from each source was sensitive to ingestion rate and skin adherence factor., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This study comprehensively estimated the excess cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality attributable to influenza in an older (age ≥65 years) population., Design: Ecological study., Setting: Aggregated data from administrative systems on CVD mortality, influenza surveillance and meteorological data in Beijing, China., Main Outcome Measure: Excess overall CVD, and separately for ischaemic heart disease (IHD), ischaemic stroke, haemorrhagic stroke mortality attributable to influenza, adjusting for influenza activity, time trend, seasonality and ambient temperature., Results: CVD (risk ratio (RR) 1.02, 95% CI 1.01, 1.02), IHD (RR 1.01, 95% CI 1.01, 1.02), ischaemic stroke (RR=1.03, 95% CI 1.02, 1.04), but not haemorrhagic stroke (RR=1.00, 95% CI 0.99, 1.01) mortality, were significantly associated with every 10% increase in influenza activity. An increase in circulating A(H1N1)09pdm, A(H3N2) and B type virus were all significantly associated with CVD and ischaemic stroke mortality, but only A(H3N2) and B type virus with IHD mortality. The strongest increase in disease mortality was in the same week as the increase in influenza activity. Annual excess CVD mortality rate attributable to influenza ranged from 54 to 96 per 100 000 population. The 3%-6% CVD mortality attributable to influenza activity was related to an annual excess of 916-1640 CVD deaths in Beijing, China., Conclusions: Influenza activity has moderate to strong associations with CVD, IHD and ischaemic stroke mortality in older adults in China. Promoting influenza vaccination could have major health benefit in this population., Background: Influenza may trigger serious CVD events. An estimation of excess CVD mortality attributable to influenza has particular relevance in China where vaccination is low and CVD burden is high., Methods: This study analysed data at the population level (age ≥65 years) using linked aggregated data from administrative systems on CVD mortality, influenza surveillance and meteorological data during 2011 to 2018. Quasi-Poisson regression models were used to estimate the excess overall CVD, and separately for IHD, ischaemic stroke, haemorrhagic stroke mortality attributable to influenza, adjusting for influenza activity, time trend, seasonality and ambient temperature. Analyses were also undertaken for influenza subtypes (A(H1N1)09pdm, A(H3N2) and B viruses), and mortality risk with time lags of 1-5 weeks following influenza activity in the current week., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Current reports on robotic hepatic caudate lobectomy are limited to Spiegel lobectomy. This study aimed to compare the safety and feasibility of robotic isolated partial and complete hepatic caudate lobectomy., Methods: Clinical data of 32 patients who underwent robotic resection of the hepatic caudate lobe in our department from May 2016 to January 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into three groups according to the lobectomy location: left dorsal segment lobectomy (Spiegel lobectomy), right dorsal segment lobectomy (caudate process or paracaval portion lobectomy), and complete caudate lobectomy. General information and perioperative results of the three groups were compared and analyzed., Results: Among the 32 patients, none had conversion to laparotomy, three received intraoperative blood transfusion (9.38%), and none had complications of Clavien-Dindo grade III or higher or died in the perioperative period. Among them, 17 patients (53.13%) underwent Spiegel lobectomy, 7 (21.88%) underwent caudate process or paracaval portion lobectomy, and 8 (25.00%) underwent complete caudate lobectomy. The operative time and blood loss in the left dorsal segment lobectomy group were significantly better than those in the right dorsal segment lobectomy and complete caudate lobectomy groups (operative time: P = 0.010 and P = 0.005; blood loss: P = 0.005 and P = 0.017, respectively). The postoperative hospital stay in the left dorsal segment lobectomy group was significantly shorter than that in the complete caudate lobectomy group (P = 0.003); however, there was no difference in the postoperative hospital stay between the left dorsal segment lobectomy group and right dorsal segment lobectomy group (P = 0.240)., Conclusions: Robotic isolated partial and complete caudate lobectomy is safe and feasible. Spiegel lobectomy is relatively straightforward and suitable for beginners., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In recent years, ground-level ozone has become a severe ambient pollutant in major urban areas of China, which has adverse impacts on population health. However, in-situ measurements of the ozone concentration before 2013 in China are quite scarce, which cannot facilitate the assessment of the long-term trends and effects of ozone pollution. In this study, we used daily maximum 8-hour average (MDA8) ozone observations from 2013 to 2017 combined with concurrent ozone retrievals, aerosol reanalysis, meteorological parameters, and land-use data to establish a nationwide MDA8 prediction model based on the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) algorithm. The model achieves high prediction accuracy compared with other studies, with R 2 values for the by-year, site-based, and sample-based cross-validation (CV) schemes of 0.61, 0.64, and 0.78, respectively, at the daily level. External testing with regional measurements from 2005 to 2012 and nationwide data in 2018 have shown that the model is robust and reliable for historical data prediction, with external model testing R 2 values ranging from 0.60 to 0.87 at the month level in different years. Using the final estimator, we obtained nationwide monthly mean ozone concentrations from 2005 to 2012 and daily MDA8 ozone concentrations from 2013 to 2017 at a resolution of 0.1° × 0.1°. According to the average number of days exceeding the standard and the average of the 90th percentile of the MDA8 ozone concentrations, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Jianghan Plain, the Sichuan Basin, and the Northeast Plain regions were identified as pollution hotspots. During the research period, the overall ozone levels fluctuated slightly, and their trends were not spatially continuous. There was a significant increasing trend in the BTH region by 1.37 (95% CI: 0.46,2.29) μg/m 3 /year between 2013 and 2017. In 2017, 26.24% of the population lived in areas exceeding the Chinese grade II national air quality standard, which shows that ozone pollution has posed an obvious threat to population health in China. Our products will provide reliable support for future long-term nationwide health impact studies and policy-making for pollution control and prevention., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Listeriosis is a rare but severe foodborne infectious disease. Perinatal listeriosis is often associated with septicemia, central nervous system (CNS) infection, and serious adverse pregnancy outcomes (miscarriage and neonate death). Here we report the characteristics and outcomes of perinatal listeriosis cases treated over 6 years at Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital (BOGH), the largest maternity hospital in China., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of laboratory-confirmed, pregnancy-associated listeriosis cases treated from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2018. The clinical manifestations, laboratory results, perinatal complications and outcomes (post-natal follow-up of 6 months) were investigated., Results: In BOGH, 12 perinatal listeriosis cases were diagnosed based on Listeria monocytogenes positive culture, including 10 single pregnancies and 2 twin pregnancies. The corresponding incidence of pregnancy-associated listeriosis was 13.7/100,000 deliveries. Among those cases, four pregnant women and four newborns had septicemia, and two of the neonates with septicemia also suffered CNS infection. All the maternal patients recovered. Two inevitable miscarriages and four fetal stillbirths occurred. Of the eight delivered newborns, six survived, and two died within 2 days from birth. None of the survivors had neurological sequelae during a 6-month follow-up. The overall feto-neonatal fatality rate was 57.1%; notably, this rate was 100% for infections occurring during the second trimester of pregnancy and only 14.3% for those occurring in the third trimester., Conclusions: Perinatal listeriosis is associated with high feto-neonatal mortality, and thus, a public health concern. Additional large-scale studies are needed to strengthen the epidemiological understanding of listeriosis in China.

Currently, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) upgrades have been implemented in various countries to improve the water quality of the receiving ecosystems and protect aquatic species from potential deleterious effects. The impact of WWTP upgrades on biological communities and functions in receiving waters is a fundamental issue that remains largely unaddressed, especially for microbial communities. Here, we selected two wastewater-dominant rivers in Beijing (China) as study sites, i.e., one river receiving water from an upgraded WWTP to explore the impacts of upgrade on aquatic ecosystems and another river receiving water from a previously upgraded WWTP as a reference. After a five-year investigation, we found that WWTP upgrade significantly decreased total organic nitrogen (N) in the receiving river. As a biological response, N-metabolism-related bacterioplankton are accordingly altered in composition and tend to intensively interact according to the network analysis. Metagenomic analysis based on the N-cycling genes and metagenomic-assembled genomes revealed that WWTP upgrade decreased the abundance of nitrifying bacteria but increased that of denitrifying and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) bacteria in the receiving river, according to their marker gene abundances. After calculation of the ratios between DNRA and denitrifying bacteria and quantification of genes/bacteria related to ammonium cycling, we deduced the changes in N-metabolism-related bacteria are likely an attempt to provide enough bioavailable N for plankton growth as conservation of ammonium was enhanced in receiving river after WWTP upgrade., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Salmonella is a significant food-borne pathogen that infects a large number of people worldwide. In this study, a lytic bacteriophage vB_SenS_SE1 capable of infecting Salmonella is isolated from municipal wastewater in Beijing, and its biological and genomic features are analyzed. Transmission electron micrograph shows that vB_SenS_SE1 is likely a Siphoviridae virus, with an icosahedral head and a long non-contracted tail. The stability test in vitro reveals that it is stable at 4-50 °C and pH 4-12. Based on the one-step growth curve, vB_SenS_SE1 has a 60-min exponential phase and a low burst size (19 PFU per cell). Bioinformatics analysis reveals that vB_SenS_SE1 consists of a circular, double-stranded DNA molecule of 40,987 bp with a GC content of 51.2%. Its genome carries 63 predicted open reading frames (orfs), with 22 orfs encoding known proteins. Phylogenetic analysis of the large terminase subunit shows that vB_SenS_SE1 exhibits strong homology to Salmonella phage St161, St162, VSiP, and FSL SP-031. The CoreGenes analysis shows that it is a member of the virus genus Cornellvirus. The features of phage vB_SenS_SE1 suggest that it has the potential to be an agent to control Salmonella.

Background Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common and independently associated with atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). This study aimed to investigate the relationship between apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), a measure of OSA severity, and prevalence of AF in a large series of patients with HCM. Methods and Results A total of 555 patients with HCM who underwent sleep evaluations were retrospectively included. Data from polysomnography studies, echocardiography, and baseline clinical characteristics were collected. OSA was present in 327 patients (58.9%). Patients with OSA or higher AHI quartiles were older, more often male, had a higher body mass index, and more clinical comorbidities. The prevalence of AF increased in patients with OSA (23.9% versus 13.6%, P =0.003) or across AHI quartiles (9.4%, 17.3%, 26.6%, and 25.2%, respectively; P for trend <0.001). After adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, New York Heart Association class, left atrial diameter, hypertension, oxygen desaturation index, and obstructive HCM, highest AHI quartile (odds ratio, 4.42; 95% CI, 1.35-14.52 [ P =0.014]) or moderate to severe OSA (odds ratio, 3.03; 95% CI, 1.28-7.20 [ P =0.012]) but not presence of OSA (odds ratio, 1.58; 95% CI, 0.84-2.97 [ P =0.153]) were significantly associated with AF. Higher AHI levels were also factors associated with persistent or permanent AF (highest AHI quartile with odds ratio, 10.96; 95% CI, 1.07-111.85). Conclusions Severity of AHI level is independently associated with AF in patients with HCM. Clinical trials are required to determine the benefits of OSA treatment on AF in patients with HCM.

Mine tailings ponds that contain heavy metals are sources of potential risk to human security and ecosystem health. China particularly faces challenge of accidental water pollution risk from more than 8869 mine tailings ponds in serve by 2015, some of which are close to residential areas and other important infrastructures within 1 km downstream. To address watershed-scale risk assessment of accidental water pollution from mine tailings ponds, a Bayesian Network-based Risk Dynamic Simulation (BN-RDS) model was proposed to simulate "sources/stressors-receptors-endpoints" risk routes. An accidental water pollution convection-diffusion simulation was coupled to Bayesian Networks to perform the risk dynamic simulation and risk evolution quantification at watershed-scale. This method was applied to the risk assessment of 23 tailings dams in 12 sub-watersheds covering the Guanting Reservoir basin (the major backup drinking water source for Beijing) in Zhangjiakou City, China. The result indicated that ecosystem health and property security were the endpoints at the highest risk in the overall watershed. Spatially, the combined risk distribution map showed the risk was higher in the downstream of the Guanting Reservoir Watershed and in its two tributary basins (the Qingshui River and the Longyang River). This research highlighted a probabilistic approach to accidental water pollution risk assessment of tailings ponds with verifiable and tangible results for risk managers and stakeholders., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Stool is an alternative specimen matrix for tuberculosis (TB) tests, because Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) can be swallowed and detected in the samples from digestive tract. We aimed to assess the performance of GeneXpert on stool and gastric lavage fluid (GALF) in diagnosing TB among patients with severe pulmonary TB., Methods: We enrolled adults with suspected pulmonary TB who were unable to produce sputum at visit between January 2016 and June 2018. Bacteriological samples consisted of one transtracheal aspirate sputum specimen, one stool specimen and/or one gastric lavage fluid specimen. Bacterial culture of transtracheal aspirate sputum provided the gold standard., Results: Of 65 individuals recruited for analysis, MGIT culture identified the presence of MTB in 32 samples. Overall, 29 of 32 stool samples from culture-positive cases were detected by the GeneXpert test, demonstrating a sensitivity of 90.6%. For GALF, 13 patients were detected as infected with MTB by GeneXpert, yielding a sensitivity of 56.5%. The statistical analysis revealed that GeneXpert showed significantly better sensitivity in detecting MTB from stool samples than GALF samples (P = 0.003). Among individuals with GeneXpert-positive stool, the percentage of individuals with comorbid diabetes was significantly higher than among individuals with GeneXpert-negative stool (19.4% vs. 2.9%, P = 0.034)., Conclusions: In conclusion, our data reveal that GeneXpert provides a higher detection rate on stool compared to GALF, indicating stool should be considered as an alternative for adult TB patients unable to produce sputum. Individuals with diabetes are more likely to have positive GeneXpert stool than nondiabetic individuals.

We investigated the correlation between insulin resistance (IR) and optical coherence tomography and identified culprit plaque characteristics in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Patients with ACS who underwent selective coronary intervention were prospectively enrolled. A total of 159 culprit lesions were identified in 145 patients. Culprit plaque characteristics, including thin-cap fibroatheroma (TCFA) and spotty calcification, were analyzed. The IR was assessed using the homeostasis model assessment of IR (HOMA-IR). Patients were divided into 4 interquartile ranges (IQRs) according to HOMA-IR values. The prevalence rates of TCFA were significantly different among the 4 groups (17.5% [IQR1 group] vs 17.9% [IQR2 group] vs 35.0% [IQR3 group] vs 55.0% [IQR4 group]; P = .001). Minimal fibrous cap thickness was inversely correlated with HOMA-IR level (141.35 [56.28] µm vs 142.82 [82.17] µm vs 102.14 [36.52] µm vs 96.00 [41.82] µm; P < .001). Spotty calcification prevalence was also significantly different among the 4 groups (5.9% vs 17.6% vs 32.4% vs 44.1%; P < .001). Compared with the bottom quartile, patients with elevated HOMA-IR values had higher prevalence of macrophage infiltration ( P < .001) and microvessels ( P = .023). On multivariate analysis, Ln HOMA-IR (odds ratio: 6.022; 95% confidence interval: 3.007-12.060; P < .001) was the independent predictor for spotty calcification. The current study showed increased IR was independently associated with plaque vulnerability, spotty calcification in particular, in ACS.

Due to significant human activity, road dust is becoming contaminated by heavy metals in many cities. To comprehensively investigate the variation of contamination level and sources of heavy metals in road dust, 10 heavy metals in road dust samples from Beijing, China, in both summer and winter, were evaluated by spatial analysis using geographic information system (GIS) mapping technology and the positive matrix factorization (PMF) Model. Although the concentrations of some heavy metals between summer and winter had similarities, the differences of others and spatial distributions of heavy metals between summer and winter were considerable. The mean concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, and Fe were lower in winter, while those of Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn were higher. According to the values of the Pollution Index (PI) and Nemerow Integrated Pollution Index (NIPI), there were no obvious differences between summer and winter, but the range between different sites in winter was nearly twice that of summer. Based on the PMF model, four sources of heavy metals in the dust samples were identified. Although the types of sources were consistent, the relative contributions of each source differed between summer and winter. Non-exhaust vehicle emissions was the most important source in summer (34.47 wt%), while fuel combustion contributed the largest proportion to the total heavy metals in winter (32.40 wt%). The impact of each source also showed spatial variation different trends in summer and winter. With the alteration of seasons, intensity of human activities also changed, such as the number of tourists, energy needs for building temperature regulation, construction, and the amount of pesticides and fertilizer. That might be the reason for the variation of heavy metal concentrations and relative contribution of their sources between summer and winter., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Elimination of black-stinking water contamination has been listed as an urgent task in the Water pollution prevention action plan promulgated by State Council of China. However, the key blackening and stinking pollutants and their sources are still unclear. In this study, water quality of a black-stinking urban river in Beijing, Dongsha River, was evaluated firstly; then the distribution of the blackening and stinking pollutants was investigated, and the key pollutants and their potential sources were identified; and finally, the health risk of those pollutants was assessed. The results showed that NH 3 N, total phosphorus, dissolved oxygen and chemical oxygen demand ranged from 1.3 to 5.3 mg/L, 0.7-3.0 mg/L, 1.0-3.2 mg/L and 29-104 mg/L, respectively. The value of TP-based trophic level index indicated that Dongsha River reached severe eutrophication level; the maximum value of chroma and odor level reached 32 and 4, respectively. The main dissolved organic compounds included aromatic protein II, soluble microbiological metabolites, fulvic acids and humic acids. The blackening pollutants Fe, Mn, Cu and S 2- were extensively detected, with significantly spatial differences along the river. Dimethyl sulfide, β-ionone, 2-methylisoborneol and geosmin were identified to be the stinking pollutants. Their concentrations covered wide ranges, and even the lowest concentration value was thousands of times higher than its olfactory threshold. Correlation analysis indicated that in the overlaying water S 2- was the key blackening pollutant, while β-ionone and geosmin were the key stinking pollutants. Principal components analysis combining with the site survey revealed their potential sources. S 2- was mainly associated with the decomposition of endogenous sulfur-containing organics; β-ionone might be generated by the endogenous β-carotene bio-conversion and the exogenous discharges, while geosmin might originate from the endogenous humus bio-conversion and anthropic wastes. Furthermore, multi-metals in the sediment posed health risks to children, while dimethyl sulfide had non-cancer health risk for adults and children., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)