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While intensive peach production has expanded rapidly in recent years, few studies have explored the environmental impacts associated with specific regional systems or the optimal management strategies to minimize associated environmental risks. Here, data from a survey of 290 native farmers were used to conduct a life cycle assessment to quantify the acidification potential (AP), global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication potential (EP), and reactive nitrogen (Nr) losses in peach production in Pinggu District, Beijing. Total annual Nr losses, and GWP, AP, and EP values for peach production in Pinggu District were respectively 10.7 kg N t -1 , 857 kg CO 2 -eq t -1 , 12.9 kg SO 2 -eq t -1 , and 4.1 kg PO 4 -eq t -1 . The principal driving factors were fertilizer production, transportation, and application, which together accounted for 94%, 67%, 75%, and 94% of Nr losses, GWP, AP, and EP, respectively. In the high yield, high nitrogen-use efficiency (HH) group, relative values of Nr losses, GWP, AP, and EP were respectively 33%, 25%, 39%, and 32% lower than the overall averages for 290 orchards. Further analyses indicate that improved farming practices such as decreasing application rates of fertilizers, increasing proportion of base fertilization rate, and proper fertilization frequency in the HH group were the main reasons for these orchards' better performance in peach yields and partial factor productivity of nitrogen fertilizer, and their reduced environmental impacts. These results highlight the need to optimize nutrient management in peach production in order simultaneously to realize both environmental sustainability and high productivity in the peach production system., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Beijing, as the capital of China, still has soil pollution problems that cannot be ignored. However, there are few studies on the overall ecological risks of heavy metals in farmland soils in Beijing. This study selected 432 soils and crops heavy metal content data of eight districts in Beijing from academic papers and academic journal papers. In this study, the improved Hakanson method, improved analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and integrated quality impact index (IICQ) comprehensively were used to evaluate the impact of Pb, As, and Cd pollution on the farmland soil environment, and the applicable conditions of these methods were discussed. The results by improved Hakanson method showed that both Pb and As were at the normal ecological risk level, while Cd was the largest contributor to potential ecological risk which accounted for 72.54% of the total risk and is mainly at a moderate ecological risk level. The analysis by improved AHP showed that the average comprehensive index of soil heavy metal pollution in the study area was 0.2317, which was at a light pollution level. The IICQ of soil and agricultural products were between 0 and 1 demonstrating that the soil was clean. In summary, the pollution of heavy metals Pb, As, and Cd in the study area is at a relatively low level, and there is no significant risk to the surrounding environment and human health. IICQ method is suitable for the evaluation of soil heavy metal composition and individual impact and can be more accurately used for the overall ecological evaluation of soil-crop-human health system., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: To determine the relationship between baseline overall HRQOL as well as domain-specific HRQOL and incident cardiovascular (CV) events over 10 years of follow-up in a Chinese general population., Methods: We examined the above link using data from a prospective cohort study, conducted between 2002 and 2012 in 11 villages of Beijing. HRQOL was assessed using Chinese 35-item quality of life instrument, and CV risk factors were recorded in either 2002 or 2005. Subjects were followed through the end of the study period, or until they were censored due to an incident CV event [including myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke] or loss to follow-up., Results: A total of 1739 participants were eligible to be included in the current study [female 64.2 %, age 57.7 (8.4) years]. There were a total of 190 CV events during the follow-up (14,364 total person-years). Participants in the bottom 20 % had 85 % increase in risk of CV event [hazard ratio (HR) 1.85; 95 % CI 1.14-3.02] compared to those in top 20 % of overall HRQOL, after adjusting for sex, age, education, marital status, smoking, alcohol consumption, being physically active, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and obesity. Among the six HRQOL domains, the independence domain had the largest effect size (fully adjusted HR 2.91; 95 % CI 1.67-5.07), followed by physical domain (HR 1.66; 95 % CI 1.03-2.67). Other domains did not predict the incidence CV events in this cohort., Conclusions: While overall lower HRQOL predicts subsequent risk of stroke and MI events, this appeared to be driven mainly by the independence domain.