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Background: In China, no national survey has been conducted to evaluate physicians' attitudes and compliance with guidelines in the management of adult patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate physicians' awareness of the use of microbiological tests in the management of severe CAP (SCAP) and to investigate the availability of nonculture tests in China.Methods: A nationwide electronic questionnaire survey was conducted among Chinese physicians between March and July 2018, which assessed their viewpoints concerning the issues in the management of SCAP.Results: A total of 6333 physicians completed this survey, evenly covering all career stages. Among these, 3208 (50.6%) and 1936 (30.6%) had blind spots in the application of blood and sputum cultures in the management of SCAP, respectively. Nonteaching hospital, nonrespirologists, and junior career stage were independently associated with misunderstandings. Regarding nonculture methods, 52.7% of the facilities had no access to polymerase chain reaction-based pathogen detection tests. The accessibility of urinary antigen tests for Streptococcus pneumoniae (42.5%) and Legionella pneumophila (38.5%) was also low. The main barriers were inland and remote region, lower hospital level, and nonteaching hospital.Conclusions: Insufficient use of sputum and blood cultures, together with low accessibility of major nonculture techniques, were noticeable barriers to achieving microbiological diagnosis of SCAP in China. To help curb the overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics, further measures should be taken to raise awareness among nonspecialists and promote rapid nonculture tests, especially in nonteaching hospitals and developing regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persons with epilepsy (PWE) remain completely and permanently prohibited from driving in China currently. Previous studies have shown that a considerable proportion of PWE with uncontrolled seizures in China continue to drive motor vehicles. Discrepancy between Chinese policy and driving practices for PWE is potentially concerning. We conducted a preliminary online electronic questionnaire (e-questionnaire) survey among neurologists in China aiming to explore neurologists' attitudes toward the issue of driving among PWE. A total of 358 neurologists completed the e-questionnaire with a response rate of 75.8%. 50.3% of neurologists stated that they knew the driving restriction law in China. With respect to reporting of cases to relevant driving authorities, 82.4% of neurologists never directly report PWE, and 90.8% consider that it is PWE's responsibility to report themselves. 87.4% of physicians surveyed indicated that the lack of clearly-articulated guidelines is a major impediment to their routine discussions of driving fitness for PWE. Subgroup analysis indicated that 76.2% of epileptologists were of the opinion that persons with well-controlled epilepsy should be allowed to drive versus 56.2% of general neurologists (P < 0.05). Currently, neurologists in China have a low awareness of the legal driving restriction for PWE and have highly varying practices with respect to counseling PWE about driving. According to our preliminary results, a clearly-articulated published national document for medical fitness for driving in China is necessary in order to standardize physicians' practices. • Neurologists in China are not knowledgeable of Chinese driving law for epilepsy drivers. • Neurologists in China had highly varying opinions regarding optimal driving regulations for epilepsy drivers. • Clearly articulated published national standard for medical fitness for driving in China is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The lifespan profiles of five electronic products were described based on survey on formal recycling plants in China. • Significant gap of product lifespan between discarding and recycling was identified, indicating the time for reuse and refurbish on the second hand market after the first discarding. • The regional disparity of product lifespan for TV sets among seven major regions in China was studied with the background of interregional flows of e-waste to support a regional recycling strategy to integrate various collection channels in China. The product lifespan is an important variable in estimating the WEEE generation. This study used the Weibull distribution model to calculate the lifetime of products based on survey data collected from selected formal recycling plants in various regions in China. The result shows that the lifespan of products arriving at the recycling plants is generally much longer than that estimated from questionnaire survey on the discarding behavior of consumers. In this study, household electronic products like TV set, refrigerator, washing machine and air conditioner, had a lifespan around 11–19 years. And computers had a shorter lifespan around 11–17 years, still longer than estimation based on survey on consumers. Then, taking TV set as example, we demonstrated that significant regional disparity exits in the product lifespan among various regions due to diversified local socio-economic conditions, as well as the cross regional flows of second handed products through the informal collection network. These results could be used in setting both national and regional recycling targets, and to optimize the spatial distribution of recycling capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]