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As one of the common physical materials in Chinese archaeological excavations, ancient bronzes are an essential basis for studying the development of Chinese bronze culture, which is of great significance for exploring the development law of ancient human civilization and reconstructing ancient human society. As China's infrastructure advances, the number of bronzes unearthed by archaeological excavations continues to increase. However, environmental damage to artefacts is very complex, whether the buried environment of the artefacts or the above-ground environment when the artefacts are unearthed, leading to different health problems for the excavated bronzes. A scientific assessment of these bronzes needs to be carried out prior to extraction to inform staff how they should be extracted, moved, and transported and how they should be restored afterwards. In response to the above problems, this paper takes excavated bronzes from archaeological sites as the research object and, by analysing and studying the relevant industry standards and the disease characteristics of bronzes, establishes a three-tier indicator framework for assessing the health of bronzes in a layer-by-layer refinement and proposes quantitative indicators with typical correlations. Through extensive research and testing, we screened out efficient, non-destructive, convenient and reliable assessment and testing methods and assessment models that combine subjective and objective aspects suitable for archaeological sites. On this basis, the paper achieves a scientific and practical assessment of the health status of bronzes excavated from archaeological sites. After repeated experiments, a set of comprehensive methods for quickly and conveniently assessing the health status of excavated bronzes was proposed for the first time and successfully applied to the archaeological excavation site of Sanxingdui site in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baoji is a typical heavy industrial city in northwest China. Its air quality is greatly impacted by the emission from the factories. Elements in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) that are greatly emitted from anthropogenic sources could pose diverse health impacts on humans. In this study, an online AMMS-100 atmospheric heavy metal analyzer was used to quantify 30 elements in PM2.5 under the weak and strong anthropogenic disturbance scenarios before the city lockdown period (from January 9th to 23rd) and the lockdown period (from January 26th to February 9th) due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. During the lockdown period, the average total concentration of total quantified elements was 3475.0 ng/m3, which was 28% and 33% lower than that of the week and strong anthropogenic disturbance scenarios during the pre-lockdown period. The greatest reductions were found for the elements of chromium (Cr), titanium (Ti), manganese (Mn), and Zinc (Zn), consistent with the industrial structure of Baoji. The mass concentrations of most elements showed obvious reductions when the government post-alerted the industries to reduce the operations and production. Dust, traffic sources, combustion, non-ferrous metal processing, and Ti-related industrial processing that are the contributors of the elements in the pre-lockdown period were apportioned by the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model. Substantial changes in the quantified elements' compositions and sources were found in the lockdown period. Health assessment was conducted and characterized by apportioned sources. The highest non-carcinogenic risk (HQ) was seen for Zn, demonstrating the high emissions from the related industrial activities. The concentration level of arsenic (As) exceeded the incremental lifetime carcinogenic risk (ILCR) in the lockdown period. This could be attributed to the traditional firework activities for the celebration of the Chinese New Year within the lockdown period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of the pharmaceutical industry, halogenated hydrocarbons, which are the main raw materials and emissions of the pharmaceutical industry, may be defined as atmospheric emerging contaminants due to toxicity and low oxidation of the atmosphere. This study analyzed the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from four pharmaceutical companies located in the Yangtze River Delta. Samples were taken three times at each of the selected fixed and fugitive sampling sites in each company. Through testing, 141 VOCs were identified. The mean concentration and proportion of halogenated hydrocarbons from the four pharmaceutical companies were the highest of all the industries in the industrial park. They reached 18.9 ppm and 28.8 %, respectively. Fixed emissions of the companies exhibited the mean maximum concentration of dichloromethane and chlorobenzene, which are 11.4 ppm and 250.67 ppb. The mean concentration of fugitive emission of dichloromethane from the four companies in this study is lower than that of pharmaceutical companies in other studies. Newly detected halogenated hydrocarbons, such as 1,1-dichloropropanone and dichloronitromethane, present potential non-cancer and cancer risks to workers. Chlorobenzene was identified as a key potential cancer risk halogenated hydrocarbon the value of which reaches 0.00965. 2,6-dichloropyridine could be a potential emerging contaminant due to its lower MIR value and higher potential cancer risk. The study suggests that relevant pharmaceutical companies focus on the emissions of chlorobenzene and dichloromethane, which may be the atmospheric emerging contaminants for the pharmaceutical industry and focus on improve the treatment of waste gases in workshops and sewage stations., 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 Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The characteristics of eight heavy metals (lead, zinc, copper, nickel, chromium, cadmium, mercury and arsenic) in the surface soil of the historical slag area of the Au ore dressing plant in the South-West of Luoyang City were investigated and evaluated in terms of a pollution index, potential ecological hazards and health risks. The results showed that the average amounts of the heavy metals Pb, Zn and As in the soils of plots S3, S5, S7, S12 and S18 exceeded the soil pollution risk screening values. The Mero comprehensive pollution index in plots S7, S12 and S18 was greater than 3, indicating severe pollution. The severe pollution plot integrated the potential ecological risk index (RI) of each sampling point, which was in the order of RIS12>RIS18>RIS7>RIS5>RIS3. Among the heavy metals, Cd poses the greatest threat to ecological and human health. The effects of heavy metals in soil on the single non-carcinogenic health risk index (HQ) and the non-carcinogenic total risk index through three exposure pathways were in the order of HQHg

Objective: To explore the cut-off values and health evaluations of upper arm circumference (AC) and calf circumference (CC) on sarcopenia in Chinese community-dwelling older people., Methods: In this cross-sectional study, AC, CC, handgrip strength, muscle mass and gait speed were measured in 1537 Chinese community-dwelling older people in Sub-study 1 . Correlation analysis, receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) analysis, and consistency analysis were used for determination of AC and CC cut-off values for sarcopenia diagnosis (sarcopenia-AC and CC). Thereafter, 269 participants accepted additional assessments on physical function, body composition and muscle strength in Sub-study 2. T -test or Mann-Whitney U -test was used to explore the differential effects of sarcopenia-AC and CC on health indicators between sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic participants., Results: In Sub-study 1 , the Area Under ROC (AUC) of AC and CC for sarcopenia screening were greater than 0.700 ( P <0.05). The cut-off values, sensitivity and specificity of AC and CC on sarcopenia in males were 25.9 cm (86.0%, 83.6%) and 33.7 cm (90.7%, 81.4%) whereas in females were 26.5 cm (70.8%, 69.7%) and 33.0 cm (86.5%, 69.4%), respectively. In Sub-study 2 , the participants with sarcopenia-AC or sarcopenia-CC showed lower muscle strength and lower fat and muscle mass than the ones without ( P <0.05). Additionally, males instead of females with sarcopenia-AC or sarcopenia-CC showed worse performance in time-up and go test and 6-Minute Walk Test ( P <0.05). However, the 30-second chair stand test was not different between participants with and without sarcopenia-AC or sarcopenia-CC in both sexes., Conclusion: We found accurate and Chinese population targeted cut-off values of AC and CC on sarcopenia diagnosis (25.9 cm and 33.7 cm in males; 26.5 cm and 33.0 cm in females) and a good evaluation effect of AC and CC on fat and muscle mass, muscle strength and physical functions in males, not females., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2024 Li et al.)

The increasing level of O 3 pollution in China significantly exacerbates the long-term O 3 health damage, and an optimized health-oriented strategy for NO x and VOCs emission abatement is needed. Here, we developed an integrated evaluation and optimization system for the O 3 control strategy by merging a response surface model for the O 3 -related mortality and an optimization module. Applying this system to the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), we evaluated driving factors for mortality changes from 2013 to 2017, quantified spatial and temporal O 3 -related mortality responses to precursor emission abatement, and optimized a health-oriented control strategy. Results indicate that insufficient NO x emission abatement combined with deficient VOCs control from 2013 to 2017 aggravated O 3 -related mortality, particularly during spring and autumn. Northern YRD should promote VOCs control due to higher VOC-limited characteristics, whereas fastening NO x emission abatement is more favorable in southern YRD. Moreover, promotion of NO x mitigation in late spring and summer and facilitating VOCs control in spring and autumn could further reduce O 3 -related mortality by nearly 10% compared to the control strategy without seasonal differences. These findings highlight that a spatially and temporally differentiated NO x and VOCs emission control strategy could gain more O 3 -related health benefits, offering valuable insights to regions with severe ozone pollution all over the world.

Yanhe River Basin is located in the hilly gully area of the Loess Plateau with serious soil erosion. Strong human activities in the middle and lower reaches lead to fragile ecological environment. Soil erosion status varies among different geomorphic units within the watershed (loess liang hilly and gully region, loess mao hilly and gully region, and broken platform region). In this study, we surveyed the benthic community from the Yanhe River Basin in April (spring) and October (autumn) of 2021. To evaluate the water ecological health status of the watershed and investigate the effects of different geomorphic units on the benthic integrity of the benthos, we constructed the benthic-index of biotical integrity (B-IBI) based on the biological data. We identified a total of 113 species of 73 genera in 4 phyla of benthic fauna, with aquatic insects as the dominant taxa in both seasons. Through screening 26 candidate indicators, we found that the spring B-IBI consisted of three indicators: relative abundance of individuals of dominant taxonomic units, family biotic index (FBI), and relative abundance of predator individuals, and that autumn B-IBI was composed of the number of taxonomic units of Ephemeroptera, FBI value, and the relative abundance of predator individuals. Results of the B-IBI evaluation showed that 83.3% of the sampling sites in the upper mainstem and tributaries were at a healthy condition, while only 28.6% sampling sites in the middle and lower mainstem and tributaries were at a healthy condition. In addition, the health status of the watershed was better in spring than in autumn. The Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric tests showed that benthic density, species number, and B-IBI percentile scores in the fragmented loess area were significantly higher in spring than in autumn, and significantly lower in autumn than in the loess liang hilly and gully region and loess mao hilly and gully region, being mainly caused by the increasing erosion due to the concentrated rainfall in wet season. Results of the redundancy analysis showed that key environmental factors affecting benthic community structure in spring were boulder substrate, chlorophyll-a, oxidation reduction potential, turbidity, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen, and were nitrate-nitrogen, oxidation reduction potential, and pH in autumn.

To reduce the operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, the health assessment of wind turbine has received more and more attention in recent years. However, it is difficult to evaluate the health condition of wind turbine due to the complex and non-stationary operation environment. This paper proposes a data-driven approach for online health assessment of wind turbine based on operational condition recognition. First, the operational condition parameters are selected by analyzing the monitoring data of wind turbine. Considering the time-varying of operation environment, the operational conditions are divided into four subspaces utilizing the K-means clustering algorithm. Then, using the historical state parameters data under normal operation, a health benchmark model is constructed in each operational condition space based on Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). Further, a Softmax model is trained according to the results of operational condition classification, which is used to identify the online operational condition of wind turbine. Moreover, an overall health index (HI) based on Mahalanobis distance is developed to assess the health condition of wind turbine. Finally, the method is verified by the actual supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data of a wind field in northwestern China. The test results show that the proposed approach can track the running state of the wind turbine accurately and play a good role in early fault warning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pihe River is one of the main tributaries of the Huaihe River in Anhui Province, China. In recent years, with the socio-economic development, the ecological environment within the basin has been seriously damaged. In order to understand the community structure of macrozoobenthos and assess the river health in headwater streams of the Pihe River, field investigation was conducted in six headwater streams in April 2015. The results showed that: 1) a total of 67 species were collected from the six streams. The species number was relatively higher in Manshui Stream and Maotan Stream, and it was 49 and 47 species, respectively; the species number in the other four rivers (Banhe Stream, Shangdong Stream, Qinglong Stream and Xipihe Stream) had little difference, and they were 30, 31, 29 and 30 species, respectively. 2) The results of one-way ANOVA and similarity analysis showed that there were no significant differences in the average species number in each sample of the six streams, and there was high species similarity among the six streams. 3) The density and biomass of macrozoobenthos in the whole study area were 439 ind./m2 and 4.54 g/m2, respectively. The Qinglong Stream showed the minimum density and biomass among the six streams, which were 328 ind./m2 and 1.85 g/m2, respectively. However, the result of ANOVA showed that there were no significant difference in the density and biomass of macrozoobenthos in the six streams. 4) The results of redundant analysis (RDA) showed that the main environmental factors affecting the spatial distribution of macrozoobenthos in headwater streams of the Pihe River were the sediment type, stream order, and total nitrogen. The eigenvalues of the first two axes were 0.107 and 0.085 respectively, which contributed to 19.1% of the total variance. 5) The health of the six streams was evaluated based on the arithmetic mean values of four indexes. The results showed that the health status of the Qinglong Stream was general, while other streams were good. The results of this study are of great importance to the protection and management of the Pihe River basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the intensification of human disturbance in urban lakes, the loss of eukaryotic biodiversity (macroinvertebrates, etc.) reduces the accuracy of the index of biotic integrity (IBI) assessment. Therefore, how to accurately evaluate the ecological status of urban lakes based on IBI has become an important issue. In this study, 17 sampling sites from four lakes in Wuhan City, China were selected to analyze the composition and diversity characteristics of benthic and microbial communities and their relationship with environmental factors based on eDNA high-throughput sequencing, and compare the application effects of the benthic index of biotic integrity (B-IBI) and the microbial index of biotic integrity (M-IBI). Canonical correspondence analysis showed that the key environmental factors affecting benthic family/genus composition were temperature, conductivity, total phosphorus (TP), and total nitrogen (TN). Redundancy analysis showed that pH, TP, conductivity, and ammonia nitrogen had the greatest impact on microbial phyla/genera. After screening, four and six core metrics were determined from candidate parameters to establish B-IBI and M-IBI. The B-IBI evaluation results showed that healthy, sub-heathy, and poor accounted for 58.8%, 35.3%, and 5.9%, respectively, in the sites. The results of the M-IBI evaluation showed that 29.4% of the sites were healthy, 47.1% were sub-healthy, and 23.5% were common. M-IBI was positively correlated with water quality (r = 0.74, P < 0.001), whereas B-IBI was not. Further results showed that M-IBI was negatively correlated with the relative abundance of bloom-forming cyanobacteria Planktothrix (r = -0.54, P < 0.05). Therefore, M-IBI is more sensitive than B-IBI and can better reflect the actual water pollution status. This study can provide a new perspective for ecological assessment and management of urban lakes strongly disturbed by human activities. [Display omitted] • The M-IBI and B-IBI were established for urban lakes based on eDNA data. • M-IBI can better reflect lakes' ecosystem health status than B-IBI • The eDNA-based microbial evaluation is essential for urban lake management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The treatment of haemophilia varies across countries and across regions within some countries. Similar variation has been observed in health‐related quality of life (HR‐QoL). Relatively little is known about the HR‐QoL of boys with haemophilia in China. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the HR‐QoL of boys with haemophilia in China using the Canadian Haemophilia Outcomes‐Kids Life Assessment Tool (CHO‐KLAT). Methods: Boys (4‐18 years of age) with haemophilia and their parents were enroled in a cross‐sectional study. All parents/guardians of study subjects were requested to complete a CHO‐KLAT questionnaire during a clinic visit, and report on several other clinical and socioeconomic factors in the past year. Boys who were > 7 years also completed the CHO‐KLAT. Results: A total of 269 parents of boys with haemophilia, from 13 hospitals in 12 provinces, were enroled during 2014. The boys ranged from 4.0 to 17.9 years of age; 91% had haemophilia A, most had moderate (52%) or severe (36%) disease, and most were receiving sub‐optimal on‐demand therapy or low‐dose prophylactic therapy. Child self‐report CHO‐KLAT scores were available for 171 boys ≥7 years of age and ranged from 24.2 to 85.3 with a mean of 57.6 (n = 171). Parent proxy‐reported CHO‐KLAT scores ranged from 25.0 to 88.7 with a mean of 55.1 (n = 269). Conclusion: HR‐QoL scores in boys with haemophilia in China were substantially lower than reported from Canadian and European boys with haemophilia. Longer term prospective studies are required to examine the factors impacting the HR‐QoL for boys with haemophilia in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study on the characteristics of heavy metals in surface sediments of typical reservoirs in the hilly area of southern China was carried out. The results showed that contents of heavy metals had great temporal and spatial heterogeneity among studied reservoirs. Zn, Pb, and As presented significant enrichment ratio in reservoirs of Dou Shui (DS) and Feng Tang (FT), as well as Ti in reservoirs of DZ and GT. The content of Cd in reservoir of FT reservoirs was characterized with high health risk with the significantly highest value of 52.43 mg/kg. Furthermore, Pb was identified with high health risk in reservoirs of SFM, Ouyang Hai (OYH), FT, and DS, and As was in OYH and ZX. Multivariate statistical analysis suggested high consistency in the variations of Cr, Ni, and Cu; moreover, Cd, Zn, and Pb were characterized with great homogeneity in their sources. In addition, agricultural activities might exert less effect on variations of heavy metals in studied reservoirs, considered that there was a weak relationship between heavy metals and nutrients. These results could improve our understanding of the spatial variations of heavy metals and their potential sources in reservoirs in this ecologically fragile region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, eight potential toxic elements (PTEs) and stable isotope ratios (δ 13 C and δ 15 N) were analyzed in three dominant fish species of the Beibu Gulf, namely Saurida tumbil, Pennahia macrocephalus and Upeneus sulphureus. The mean contents (mg/kg, dry weight) of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn in the three species of fish were 10.94, 0.11, 0.55, 2.00, 5.80, 0.47, 0.39, 41.70, respectively. Cr, Mn and Pb showed potential biomagnification effects in fish bodies while Cu and Zn were biodiluted through the food chain. The results of the health risk assessment showed that the total hazard quotient (THQ) ranged from 0.11 to 0.32 and 1.34 to 1.70 and the total carcinogenic risk (TCR) ranged from 5.44 × 10 -4 to 1.35 × 10 -3 and 6.35 × 10 -3 to 1.57 × 10 -2 for adults and children, respectively. These results suggest that consumption of the three fish species by adults lead to carcinogenic health risks and consumption of the three fish species by children would result in significant adverse health effects., 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 Ltd. All rights reserved.)

With economic development, the health of river ecosystems is becoming severely threatened because of the increasing effects of human activities on river ecosystems. Here, 101 sites along regional river systems in Beijing rivers were investigated from autumn 2020 to summer 2021. A total of 34 metrics, including aquatic organisms, hydrology, water quality, and habitat, were calculated to be the candidate indicators. Principal component and correlation analyses were used to select the core metrics from the candidate indicators, and the weight of each core metric was estimated using the entropy method. The integrated index of stream ecological health was constructed to assess the health condition of the Beijing rivers. The results of the PCA and correlation analyses revealed that eleven metrics were selected as the core metrics to construct the integrated index of stream ecological health, including water temperature, flow velocity, BOD 5 , NH 4 -N, Cu, the density of phytoplankton and zooplankton, the Shannon-Wiener diversity index of macroinvertebrates and fish, the BMWP index, and the qualitative habitat evaluation index. According to the health assessment results, 4.95% of the sampling sites were healthy, 23.76% were subhealthy, and 71.29% were in a fair or below healthy state. The river health status showed strong spatial heterogeneity, and the river health statuses in the northern and western regions were relatively good, whereas the river health status in the central and southeastern regions were relatively poor. The results of four aspects stream ecosystem assessment showed that the overall water quality of the rivers was "subhealthy" and the aquatic organisms and habitat were "general poor," but the hydrology was "poor." The evaluation results of five water systems demonstrated that the Chaobai River had the best health status, followed by that of the Yongding River, Daqing River, and Jiyun River, and the Beiyun River had the worst health status. Maintaining river ecological baseflow, ensuring river system connectivity, and improving and restoring the river habitat environment are the key aspects of river ecological restoration and protection in Beijing in the future.+ -N, Cu, the density of phytoplankton and zooplankton, the Shannon-Wiener diversity index of macroinvertebrates and fish, the BMWP index, and the qualitative habitat evaluation index. According to the health assessment results, 4.95% of the sampling sites were healthy, 23.76% were subhealthy, and 71.29% were in a fair or below healthy state. The river health status showed strong spatial heterogeneity, and the river health statuses in the northern and western regions were relatively good, whereas the river health status in the central and southeastern regions were relatively poor. The results of four aspects stream ecosystem assessment showed that the overall water quality of the rivers was "subhealthy" and the aquatic organisms and habitat were "general poor," but the hydrology was "poor." The evaluation results of five water systems demonstrated that the Chaobai River had the best health status, followed by that of the Yongding River, Daqing River, and Jiyun River, and the Beiyun River had the worst health status. Maintaining river ecological baseflow, ensuring river system connectivity, and improving and restoring the river habitat environment are the key aspects of river ecological restoration and protection in Beijing in the future.

The safety retaining wall is a critical infrastructure in ensuring the safety of both rock removal vehicles and personnel. However, factors such as precipitation infiltration, tire impact from rock removal vehicles, and rolling rocks can cause local damage to the safety retaining wall of the dump, rendering it ineffective in preventing rock removal vehicles from rolling down and posing a huge safety hazard. To address these issues, this study proposed a safety retaining wall health assessment method based on modeling and analysis of UAV point-cloud data of the safety retaining wall of a dump, which enables hazard warning for the safety retaining wall. The point-cloud data used in this study were obtained from the Qidashan Iron Mine Dump in Anshan City, Liaoning Province, China. Firstly, the point-cloud data of the dump platform and slope were extracted separately using elevation gradient filtering. Then, the point-cloud data of the unloading rock boundary was obtained via the ordered crisscrossed scanning algorithm. Subsequently, the point-cloud data of the safety retaining wall were extracted using the range constraint algorithm, and surface reconstruction was conducted to construct the Mesh model. The safety retaining wall mesh model was isometrically profiled to extract cross-sectional feature information and to compare the standard parameters of the safety retaining wall. Finally, the health assessment of the safety retaining wall was carried out. This innovative method allows for unmanned and rapid inspection of all areas of the safety retaining wall, ensuring the safety of rock removal vehicles and personnel.

According to an ecological survey in 10 Shanghai districts, sampling 24 rivers on a quarterly basis between 2011 and 2013, a phytoplankton integrity index (P-IBI) was developed to establish a Shanghai Rivers Status. According to the investigation of phytoplankton in 24 rivers during 2011-2013, 6 relatively clean sites and 18 contamited sites were defined using THE Shannon index of phytoplankton and physicochemical water quality data (TN, TP, CODMn). Judgement ability and the Pearson correlation were performed on 19 candidate metrics with SPSS 18.0 and origin 8. The results show that 4 biological metrics, the Shannon index of phytoplankton, percentage of the number of diatom taxa, abundance of algal, percentage of movable diatom density, are more suited to health assessment on rivers of Shanghai. Using a unified dimensionless ratio method, the quartering division of Shanghai river health standards led to the following categories: > 2.53 for healthy, 1.90 to 2.53 for sub-healthy, from 1.27 to 1.90 for general health, between 0.63 to 1.27 for poor health, and from 0 to 0.63 for poorest health. Ultimately, assess with those criteria, the results show that among 24 sites in Shanghai, 4 sites were healthy, 12 sites were sub-healthy, 7 sites were general health, and 1 site was poor health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: China’s future major health problem will be the management of chronic diseases – of which mental health is a major one. An instrument is needed to measure mental health inclusion outcomes for mental health services in Hong Kong and mainland China as they strive to promote a more inclusive society for their citizens and particular disadvantaged groups. Aim: To report on the analysis of structural equivalence and item differentiation in two mentally unhealthy and one healthy sample in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. Method: The mental health sample in Hong Kong was made up of non-governmental organisation (NGO) referrals meeting the selection/exclusion criteria (being well enough to be interviewed, having a formal psychiatric diagnosis and living in the community). A similar sample in the United Kingdom meeting the same selection criteria was obtained from a community mental health organisation, equivalent to the NGOs in Hong Kong. Exploratory factor analysis and logistic regression were conducted. Results: The single-variable, self-rated ‘overall social inclusion’ differs significantly between all of the samples, in the way we would expect from previous research, with the healthy population feeling more included than the serious mental illness (SMI) groups. In the exploratory factor analysis, the first two factors explain between a third and half of the variance, and the single variable which enters into all the analyses in the first factor is having friends to visit the home. All the regression models were significant; however, in Hong Kong sample, only one-fifth of the total variance is explained. Conclusion: The structural findings imply that the social and community opportunities profile–Chinese version (SCOPE-C) gives similar results when applied to another culture. As only one-fifth of the variance of ‘overall inclusion’ was explained in the Hong Kong sample, it may be that the instrument needs to be refined using different or additional items within the structural domains of inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the human health hazards and ecological risks of heavy metals from waste sites in residential vicinity. The heavy metals analyzed were Cr, Pb, Cd, Ni, Cu, and Zn. A total of 40 soil samples were collected from waste sites in two residential estates located in the urban and suburb areas of Umuahia, Abia state. Results revealed a trend in concentrations of the heavy metals for both sites in the following order: Cu > Ni > Zn > Cr > Cd > Pb. The concentrations of heavy metals were higher in rural soils than in urban soil. The contamination factor (CF) indices for Pb, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn were less than 1 for both sites, signifying a low contamination scenario. The contamination factor for Cd (6 > CF) for both sites indicated a very high contamination status. The estimated degree of contamination (Cdeg) was less than the lower threshold of 8.0, denoting a low degree of contamination. Cd was the highest contributor to ecological risk with Er index value of 184.2 among measured heavy metals. The overall potential ecological risk index for urban and rural sites are 187.1 and 196.1 respectively, classifying the sites as moderate risk. The overall non-carcinogenic hazard index values (HI) for adults and children in urban and rural soils are 0.00248, 0.0198 and 0.0028, 0.0223 respectively, which are below the acceptable limit (HI < 1), indicating that the exposed residents are unlikely to experience any apparent adverse health hazards. However, children are more susceptible to non-carcinogenic hazards than adults in the study areas., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

In recent years, the historical center of Old Havana has been under a serious restoration movement which could increase the heavy metal concentrations in street dusts and thus severely impact humans in the area. Therefore, the aim of this work is to study the heavy metal concentrations, pollution indexes, and health risk assessment of urban road dusts from the city in order to assess if this restoration movement is harmful to the citizens and visitors. Street road dust samples were collected at 33 stations for the determination of some heavy metals (Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb) concentrations using an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrument. The mean concentration values of the elements Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb were 7.0 mg.kg -1 , 60.6 mg.kg -1 , 73.6 mg.kg -1 , 548.7 mg.kg -1 , and 60.8 mg.kg -1 , respectively. Zn and Pb showed higher values of the background. The study of the enrichment factor (EF), the pollution index (IP), and the integral pollution index (IPI) showed some stations with high values of contamination near construction places. Zn was identified as the major pollutant and correlated to the biggest construction places of the municipality at that moment. However, the hazard index (HI) and carcinogenic risk (CR) values do not show the risk of getting non-carcinogenic or carcinogenic diseases associated with the analyzed pollutants. Therefore, it was safely concluded that the big reconstruction movement does not represent a health problem., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

(1) Background: River health assessment provides the foundation for sustainable river development and management. However, existing assessments have no uniform standards and methods. (2) Methods: The combination weighting method was proposed, drawing on the advantages of subjective and objective weighting methods. To comprehensively investigate the river health level, an index system based on 16 indices selected from river morphology, river water environment, riparian condition, and social services level was established. The method and framework were applied to the Beijing section of Yongding River in China. (3) Results: The comprehensive weights of river morphology, river water environment, riparian condition, and social services are 0.1614, 0.3170, 0.4459, and 0.0757, respectively. The river health comprehensive index of Yongding River is 3.805; the percentages of excellent, healthy, sub-healthy, unhealthy, and sick river segments are 0%, 11%, 69%, 20%, and 0%, respectively. (4) Conclusions: The results indicate that Yongding River is in a sub-healthy state, and the riparian condition is the key factor that affects the river ecosystem health. Health level exhibited a remarkable spatial variation, mainly influenced by anthropogenic activities, and effective measures are needed to minimize the impact in fragile ecological areas.

Cultivated land is a fundamental factor related to the social stability and sustainable development of the whole country. However, the safety of quantity and quality of cultivated land has decreased year by year, resulting in great challenges to the sustainable development of cultivated land. Cultivated land productivity, site conditions, and soil health jointly determine the sustainable development potential of cultivated land. Analyzing and calculating the coupling and cooperative relationship between these three subsystems can provide a theoretical and methodological reference for protecting and zoning cultivated land resources. Using Jiangyou City as a case study, this paper constructs a coupling coordination degree model of cultivated land productivity, site conditions, and soil health assessment systems in different geomorphic regions, and comprehensively analyzes the level of sustainable development of cultivated land in the study area. The results show that there are differences in the development potential of cultivated land resources in the mountainous regions in the north, the hilly regions in the center, and the plain regions in the south of Jiangyou City. The coupling coordination index of the three regions were calculated as 0.34, 0.51, and 0.63, respectively, for which the overall average coupling coordination index is 0.57; notably, it only reaches the "barely coordination" level. Based on our analysis results, the cultivated lands in Jiangyou City are classified into the following zones: core protection zone, dominant remediation zone, and key regulation zone. The cultivated land located in the core protection zone has a high coupling coordination index, which can be used as the preferred area for the delimitation of high standard basic farmland and permanent basic farmland. For the cultivated land located in the dominant remediation zone, the development of its subsystems is unbalanced. Comprehensive land improvement projects can be carried out in this zone to improve the overall quality. For the cultivated land located in the key regulation zone, it is recommended to implement projects such as returning farmland to forests to improve land use efficiency. In particular, the evaluation index system constructed in this paper is sufficiently representative, as it can support the classification, quality improvement, and sustainable use of cultivated land. Thus, other similar countries and regions can learn from the evaluation system constructed in this paper.

Baoji is a typical heavy industrial city in northwest China. Its air quality is greatly impacted by the emission from the factories. Elements in fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) that are greatly emitted from anthropogenic sources could pose diverse health impacts on humans. In this study, an online AMMS-100 atmospheric heavy metal analyzer was used to quantify 30 elements in PM 2.5 under the weak and strong anthropogenic disturbance scenarios before the city lockdown period (from January 9 th to 23 rd ) and the lockdown period (from January 26 th to February 9 th ) due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. During the lockdown period, the average total concentration of total quantified elements was 3475.0 ng/m 3 , which was 28% and 33% lower than that of the week and strong anthropogenic disturbance scenarios during the pre-lockdown period. The greatest reductions were found for the elements of chromium (Cr), titanium (Ti), manganese (Mn), and Zinc (Zn), consistent with the industrial structure of Baoji. The mass concentrations of most elements showed obvious reductions when the government post-alerted the industries to reduce the operations and production. Dust, traffic sources, combustion, non-ferrous metal processing, and Ti-related industrial processing that are the contributors of the elements in the pre-lockdown period were apportioned by the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model. Substantial changes in the quantified elements' compositions and sources were found in the lockdown period. Health assessment was conducted and characterized by apportioned sources. The highest non-carcinogenic risk (HQ) was seen for Zn, demonstrating the high emissions from the related industrial activities. The concentration level of arsenic (As) exceeded the incremental lifetime carcinogenic risk (ILCR) in the lockdown period. This could be attributed to the traditional firework activities for the celebration of the Chinese New Year within the lockdown period., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

n assessment of the ecosystem health of Lake Taihu in eastern China from 1960 to 2005 was conducted using separate and aggregated chemical and biological indicators. The chemical oxygen demand, the total nitrogen, total inorganic nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations, and the molar ratio of TN to TP (N/P) have all significantly increased ( P < 0.05) since 1980. The trophic state index increased from 35.0 in 1960 to >60.0 in 1990, confirming that Lake Taihu changed from being oligotrophic to being eutrophic. These changes in water quality have led to corresponding changes in species composition and in the densities and biomasses of many aquatic species. Algal blooms have occurred frequently since the late 1980s, leading to the dominance of small zooplankton and benthic invertebrates. About 41 fish, 65 zooplankton and 16 macrophyte species were estimated to have disappeared from the lake since the late 1980s. Buffer capacity increased for phytoplankton and zooplankton but decreased for zoobenthos. These results suggest that the Lake Taihu ecosystem was in better health in 1960, and has deteriorated since 1980. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serious resource depletion has made sustainable agriculture an important and pressing issue for scientists, policy makers, and stakeholders worldwide, particularly in developing countries. Researchers have focused on methods to assess agriculture correctly, and to introduce sound solutions for sustainability, but have reached no agreement. In this paper, we introduce the theoretical framework of the agro-ecosystem health model, a new holistic approach, and apply it at a regional scale using four aspects (4S): sound structure, stable function, safe service, and sustainable development. We examine how 12 indicators of an agro-ecosystem health assessment (AHA) were selected using three dimensions based on this theoretical framework. In an AHA, we used an amoeba approach to examine a high-yield agro-ecosystem in Huantai County, Shandong Province, China. The results indicate that this model of ecosystem health can reflect the complex ecological, economic, and human conditions of an agro-ecosystem and evaluate these conditions using perspectives pertinent to system structure, function, and responses (services). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to metal(loid)s is associated with adverse effects on human health, especially for children and adolescents. This study was designed to evaluate metal(loid)s exposure in 2050 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years from Liuzhou City, Southwest China. The detection rates of 21 elements were all above 99%. We found that age was an important predictor for most elements, and that children exhibited more exposure than adolescents, expect for strontium (p < 0.05). Interestingly, urinary levels were higher in girls for 13 of our study elements. Multiple regression models also showed that dietary habits also affected the distribution of elements. Moreover, we estimated exposure risk by generating the hazard quotient (HQ) for single metal and the hazard index (HI) for the co-occurrence of metals. The HQ of cadmium was > 1 at the P95 value and that the risk of the mixed effect of cadmium, mercury, and thallium was not negligible, and indicated that the associated risk was of concern. Our results provide basic data on the reference values of urinary metal(loid) levels and an assessment of health risks for children and adolescents that reside in industrial areas., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Rugao city is a typical longevity area taking shallow groundwater as the primary drinking water source. To determine the relationship between longevity and groundwater conditions, the hydrogeochemical characteristics and related causes of potable groundwater were investigated. On this basis, the water quality index (WQI) and hazard index (HI) of groundwater were evaluated. Meanwhile, the nutrient indicators beneficial to human health, like Ca and Mg concentrations, were also considered to explore the relationship. The results were as following: (1) 91.3% of water samples fell under the Ca/Mg–HCO 3 water type, which resulted from the dissolution of silicate rock. Na, Cl-, Br, B in groundwater emanated from seawater intrusion. The abnormal concentrations of NO 3 − and As also indicated that anthropogenic activities had exerted significant influences on groundwater quality. (2) The average WQI value was 30.19, which meant that the overall groundwater quality in Rugao city was pretty good. However, 8 water samples were found to have HI values above 1, which might be attributed to the high concentration of As (maximum value 0.0407 mg/L; mean value 0.0076 mg/L). In general, low WQI and HI values corresponded to towns with a high longevity population; what's more, WQI and HI values of Rugao city were lower than those of non-longevity areas. (3) Comparing with adjacent non-longevity areas, the potable groundwater in Rugao city had the characteristics of high Ca (mean value 123.57 mg/L), high Mg (mean value 50.33 mg/L) and high SO 4 2- (mean value 525.19 mg/L). The daily intake of Ca and Mg from drinking water could meet 12.4% and 22.4% of daily Ca and Mg requirements, respectively. Also, the areas where the Sr and B concentrations were higher usually had higher life expectancy. The high concentrations of Ca, Mg, SO 4 2-, Sr and B in drinking water, as well as low WQI and HI values, probably contribute to physical health and longevity. This research helps provide an insight into the relationship between groundwater quality and health and can serve as a reference for drinking water quality management. [Display omitted] • Water-rock interaction and seawater intrusion dictate groundwater composition. • Anthropogenic activities have affected groundwater quality. • Towns in Rugao city with high longevity usually have low WQI and HI values. • The potable groundwater in Rugao city has high levels of nutrient elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arsenic (As) is a natural environmental contaminant to which humans are usually exposed in water, air, soil, and food. China is a typical high-As region, and also a great contributor of the world production of cultivated edible mushrooms and a region abundant in wild growing edible mushrooms. Mushrooms can accumulate different amounts of As and different As compounds, so potential health risk of As intake may exist to people who use mushrooms with elevated As contents as food or medicine. A systematic literature search was carried out for studies on As and As compounds in mushrooms from China. We compiled existing data from published sources in English or Chinese and provide an updated review of the findings on As in mushrooms associated with environments and health risks. Future perspectives for studies on As in mushrooms have also been discussed. Image 1 • A review was carried out for studies on As and As species in mushrooms from China. • As in mushrooms associated with environments and health risks is reviewed. • Mushrooms possessing elevated As contents belong to several fungal families. • Both intra- and inter-specific variation in As species in mushrooms can be large. • Future perspectives for studies on As in mushrooms have been also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A wetland health indicator system including 12 indicators was established. • More remote sensing data and spatial data were used. • The evaluation system can reflect spatial-pattern of wetlands health. Wetland is one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, a unique habitat for creatures. However, nearly half of the world's wetlands have deteriorated and disappeared in the past 100 years due to human disturbance, and the wetlands are still in a situation of continuous degradation. Current wetland evaluation cannot reveal spatial heterogeneity and its changes within the wetland. Therefore, based on remote sensing technology and landscape index, this study constructed a wetland health indicator system consisting of 12 indicators and used analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to calculate their weights. Using remote sensing data, experimental data and auxiliary data, this indicator system was applied to the Hongze Lake wetland in Jiangsu Province, China and the spatial pattern of health status was mapped. The health index of the edge of Hongze Lake is relatively lower, and the interior is healthier. The whole health index is 5.63. This study indicated that the wetland health assessment methodology proposed can effectively evaluate the spatial pattern of wetland ecosystem health and provide technical support for the protection and restoration of wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have reported associations between air pollution and health impacts, but few studies have explicitly differentiated the economic effects of PM 2.5 and ozone at China's regional level. This study compares the PM 2.5 and ozone pollution-related health impacts based on an integrated approach. The research framework combines an air pollutant emission projection model (GAINS), an air quality model (GEOS-Chem), a health model using the latest exposure-response functions, medical prices and value of statistical life (VSL), and a general equilibrium model (CGE). Results show that eastern provinces in China encounter severer loss from PM 2.5 and more benefit from mitigation policy, whereas the lower income western provinces encounter severer health impacts and economic burdens due to ozone pollution, and the impact in southern and central provinces is relatively lower. In 2030, without control policies, PM 2.5 pollution could lead to losses of 2.0% in Gross Domestic Production (GDP), 210 billion Chinese Yuan (CNY) in health expenditure and a life loss of around 10,000 billion, while ozone pollution could contribute to GDP loss by 0.09% (equivalent to 78 billion CNY), 310 billion CNY in health expenditure, and a life loss of 2300 billion CNY (equivalent to 2.7% of GDP). By contrast, with control policies, the GDP and VSLs loss in 2030 attributable to ambient air pollution could be reduced significantly. We also find that the health and economic impacts of ozone pollution are significantly lower than PM 2.5 , but are much more difficult to mitigate. The Chinese government should promote air pollution control policies that could jointly reduce PM 2.5 and ozone pollution. • PM 2.5 and ozone pollution-related health and economic impacts are compared. • An integrated economy-air pollution-health assessment framework is adopted. • Without control PM 2.5 and ozone pollution may cause 2.0% and 0.09% GDP loss in 2030. • Benefits of controlling ambient air pollution would be huge all over China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of microbial community–based biological indicators for assessing aquatic ecological status is urgently needed in heavily impaired regions, due to the local extinction of traditional indicator macro-organisms. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a microbial community–based index of biotic integrity (MC-IBI) to assess the health of wetlands in Suzhou, China. High-throughput sequencing was used to obtain information about microbial communities in wetlands and to investigate the health of the wetlands. When constructing the index, we selected what we considered were the most important environmental factors and biological parameters, and identified sensitive and tolerant species. We then used the index to evaluate the health of the inflows and outflows of 15 wetlands in Suzhou. The results showed that, of the 30 samples collected at the 10 impacted inflow sites, 2 were classified as "poor," 5 were "commonly," 18 were sub-healthy, and 5 were healthy; at the restored outflow sites, 24 were "healthy" and 6 were "sub-healthy." The health was worst at the inflows of wetlands that received agricultural effluent, followed by those that received industrial effluent, and was best at those that received urban effluent. The results from our study show that this newly developed MC-IBI gave reasonable evaluations of the health of wetland ecosystems. This application demonstrates that the evaluation system was feasible and we suggest that evaluations that further MC-IBI evaluation approaches should be developed further in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of anaerobic digestion in food waste treatment plants generates a large amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Long-term exposure to this exhaust gas can pose a threat to the health of workers and people living nearby. In this study, VOCs emitted from different working units in a food waste anaerobic digestion plant were monitored for a year. Variations in VOCs emitted from each unit were analyzed and a health risk assessment was conducted for each working unit. The results show that the concentration of VOCs in different units varied greatly. The highest cumulative concentration of VOCs appeared in the hydrothermal hydrolysis unit (3.49 × 10 4  μg/m 3 ), followed by the sorting/crushing room (8.97 × 10 3  μg/m 3 ), anaerobic digestion unit (6.21 × 10 2  μg/m 3 ), and biogas production unit (2.01 × 10 2  μg/m 3 ). Oxygenated compounds and terpenes were the major components of the emitted VOCs, accounting for more than 98% of total VOC emissions. The carcinogenic risk in the plant exceeded the safety threshold (ILCR<1 × 10 -6 ), while the non-carcinogenic risk was within the acceptable range (HI < 1). The carcinogenic risk from the hydrothermal hydrolysis unit was the highest, reaching 4.4 × 10 -5 , and was labeled as "probable risk." The carcinogenic risk at the plant boundary was 1.2 × 10 -5 , indicating exhaust gases can cause a health threat to neighbors. Therefore, management VOCs in anaerobic digestion plants should receive more attention, and employees should minimize the time they spend in the hydrothermal hydrolysis unit., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Gastrointestinal microbiota play an important role in animal host immunity, nutrient metabolism, and energy acquisition, and have therefore drawn increasing attentions. This study compared the diversity of the gut microbiota of both wild and captive bharals, which is an ungulate herbivore of caprid from the Qinghai-Tibet plateau., Results: The sequencing of the V4-V5 region of the 16S rRNA gene via high-throughput sequencing technology showed that the dominant bacterial phyla are Firmicutes and Bacteroides both in wild and captive bharals. However, their abundance differed significantly between groups. Firmicutes were significantly higher in wild bharals, while Bacteroides were significantly higher in captive bharals. Different diets are likely a key influencing factor in the diversity and abundance of gut microbiota in bharals., Conclusions: Changes in diets affect the diversity of gut microbiota and the relative abundance of pathogenic bacteria, increasing the risk of diseases outbreak in captive bharals. The results of this study suggest that the structure and function of the gut microbiota should be regulated via dietary intervention, accurate provision of an individualized diet, and optimization of the functional network of gut microbiota and its interaction with the host. This will improve the ex situ protection of wild animals.

Background: Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are innovative courses that have aroused great interest in the field of nursing education. However, most studies have focused only on the benefits of MOOCs rather than the issues and how to ameliorate them., Objectives: To compare the differences between the "blended learners" (who studied at a university and via a MOOC) and "social learners" (MOOC-only learners) in course completion, participation, performance, and online interactions., Design: A prospective cohort study., Settings and Participants: The participants were social and blended learners registered on a 16-week Health Assessment MOOC on a Chinese MOOC platform., Methods: The data were collected from the MOOC learning records. The participants were categorized based on their participation: Committed learners (participated in all topic tests and the final exam), Early dropout learners (initially participated but did not finish the course), and Other learners (the remainder). The differences in course completion, participation, performance, and online interactions (in three case discussions and free discussions) between the blended and social learners, and among the three participation types, were assessed., Results: At total of 4106 participants registered, comprising 57 blended and 4049 social learners. The completion rates for blended and social learners were 100% and 7.14%, respectively. The blended learners showed stable participation rates over the course (χ 2  = 0.190, P = 0.663) while the social learners showed a trend of high to low participation (χ 2  = 179.602, P < 0.001). The blended learners had better performance than the social learners (all P < 0.05) except among the committed learners. The blended learners also had more online interactions than the social learners (χ 2  = 25.107, P < 0.001). The Early dropout and Other learners among the social learners participated more in the free discussions than the case discussions (P < 0.001)., Conclusion: Blended learners benefit more from MOOCs than social learners, and online-to-offline blended approaches are recommended for future nursing education., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The development of an ecosystem health index to assess health status in freshwater lakes is urgently needed in China, especially in polluted lakes. This study developed a specific Ecosystem Health Index (LP-EHI) for Lake Poyang in China. LP-EHI quantified lake health from the perspectives of physical, chemical, biological integrity and social service. Physical integrity indices included hydrological conditions (water level and runoff), basic morphometric characteristics (lake area and shoreline), and tributary connectivity. Chemical integrity indices used water quality, nutrition, and toxicity to quantify chemical impairment. Biological integrity indicators covered six major components of the aquatic food chain, namely, phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthic macroinvertebrates, wetland plants, fish, and wintering birds. Social service indices included drinking water, pathogenic potential, flood storage capacity, sand mining, and dish-shaped sub-lake areas under management to measure whether the lake fulfilled the needs of human society. Reference and impaired conditions for each metric were defined by “historical” conditions, “least disturbed” conditions, national standards and expert opinions. The value of LP-EHI ranging from 0 to 1 was divided into five health conditions: excellent (≥0.8), good (0.6–0.8), fair (0.4–0.6), poor (0.2–0.4) and bad (<0.2). The metrics’ reliability was further validated using a box-and-whisker plot test. The developed index (LP-EHI) is so far the most comprehensive index to evaluate ecosystem health for Lake Poyang, and is well reflected in the unique characteristics of Lake Poyang. It can enhance our understanding of lake health conditions and thus guide lake management to achieve better health conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the largest Yangtze river-connected lakes in China, Lake Poyang’s heath status has increasingly become a cause for concern. This study evaluated Lake Poyang’s heath status using a newly developed index (ecosystem health index for Lake Poyang, LP-EHI). The evaluation results revealed a declining tendency in the lake’s health status from 2010 to 2014. The health conditions for Lake Poyang were “good”, “fair”, and “fair” in 2010, 2013, and 2014, respectively. The individual indices for water quality, nutrient conditions, and benthic macroinvertebrate showed a deteriorating trend from 2010 to 2014 mainly due to human activities, such as industrial pollution. Further analysis revealed that the health status of Lake Poyang was strongly affected by hydrological processes. This study demonstrated the potential of LP-EHI in evaluating the ecological health of Lake Poyang. Such a heath status evaluation can be applied to other lakes, and can benefit lake management, restoration, and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walnut is one of the most popular nuts worldwide and contains various mineral nutrients. Little is known, however, about the relationship between toxic heavy metals in walnuts and growth soil. In this study, we investigated the distribution, relationship, and risk assessment of five toxic heavy metals-lead (Pb), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg)-in walnuts and growth soil in the main production areas of China. The results showed that the main heavy metal pollution in walnut and soil was Pb and Cd. Regionally, positive relationships existed between heavy metals and the pH and organic matter of soil. In addition, we observed a notable uptake effect between walnut and growth soil. In this study, we found a significant correlation (r = 0.786, P < 0.05) between the bioconcentration factors and the longitude of the sampling areas. The risks (total hazard quotients) of five heavy metals toward children and adults by dietary walnut consumption were 46.8 and 56.2%, respectively. The ability to identify toxic heavy metal pollution in walnuts and growth soil could be helpful to screen suitable planting sites to prevent and control heavy metal pollution and improve the quality and safety of walnut.