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The Cheung Kong Scholars Program has become a nationally important, high-level talent plan. In this study, we determined whether the research output and coauthorship pattern of Cheung Kong Scholars changed after their receipt of the award. We selected the 83 recipients of the 2005 Cheung Kong Scholars Award and identified a total of 11,522 Science/Social Sciences Citation Index papers published between 1996 and 2015 by these awardees. The analysis was divided into two 10-year periods--the preaward (1996-2005) and postaward (2006-2015) periods--to investigate changes in the scholars' research performance. The results revealed that the number of papers authored by each Cheung Kong Scholar increased significantly, and there were also significant increases between the two periods in terms of average citation count and journal impact factor, suggesting that the quality of the scholars' papers improved in tandem with the quantity. Second, a quadrant chart revealed that individuals exhibited different trends in productivity and impact, but their impacts' distribution in the postaward period was much more concentrated than that in the preaward period. Third, the scholars' coauthorship patterns changed significantly after receiving the award--not only their number of coauthors per paper significantly increased but also their authorship role changed significantly. In both number and proportion, they became less likely to act as the first author, but more likely to be listed as the last author. Furthermore, they published more papers as corresponding author, and more papers as the first, corresponding, or last author, though their proportion did not change significantly.

• Papers with dubious affiliations constitute a significant portion of cross-national papers. • Two types of dubious affiliations, Solo Show and insufficient Affiliation, are identified. • Papers with dubious affiliation are more prevalent between Western nations than those with China. • Solo-Show papers are prevalent in A&HCI and particularly between the US and China. • Insufficient-affiliation papers are prevalent in SCIE and SSCI papers. Assessing international research collaboration through cross-national papers is a common practice but may be compromised by dubious affiliations lacking clear evidence of substantial collaboration. In this study, we analyze cross-national papers indexed in SCIE, SSCI, and A&HCI databases, published between 2012 and 2021, and affiliated respectively with pairs of four nations: the US, China, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Our findings reveal that at least 27 % of them exhibit dubious affiliations, with the proportion potentially rising above 60 % in SCIE papers between the United Kingdom and Australia. This underscores the need to address the potential impact of these papers. We also find that academic practice, cultural proximity, and geopolitical tension have affected the prevalence of different types of dubious affiliations across disciplinary categories and nation pairs. Moreover, papers with dubious affiliations are more prevalent in collaborations among Western nations compared to those involving China. A particular type of dubious affiliations, known as Solo Show, is especially pronounced between the US and China, highlighting the distinctive nature of their pattern of collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergency ambulance dispatches (EAD) have been proven to be associated with ambient particulate matter with diameter < 2.5 μm (PM 2.5 ) concentration, but the associations of circulatory EAD remained inconclusive, especially in heavily polluted areas. In this time series conducted in Shenyang City, Northeastern China, we explored the associations between circulatory EAD and ambient PM 2.5 and its constituents. Data including 113,508 circulatory EAD records, five types of PM 2.5 constituents, and meteorological information spanning from 2014 to 2019 were retrieved. Using generalized additive models (GAMs), we explored the association between circulatory EAD and calculated excess risks induced by a 10 μg/m 3 increase (ERR 10 ) in PM 2.5 mass and its constituents. ERR by percentage change (ERR pc ) to compare among the different constituents were also calculated. Positive associations between circulatory EAD and PM 2.5 mass, sulfates, organic matters, and black carbon, were found particularly at lag0 and lag0-5, with the ERR 10 of 3.8% (3.2%-4.4%), 6.5% (2.2%-10.8%), 4.2% (1.7%-6.6%), and 30.2% (17.2%-43.4%) at lag0-5, respectively. Similar associations were observed for cardiovascular EAD, while cerebrovascular EAD suggested a positive association with O 3 rather than PM 2.5 or its constituents. Notably, PM 2.5 mass exhibited the largest ERR pc for circulatory and cardiovascular EAD, followed by sulfates and black carbon. Moreover, the risks were enhanced for circulatory and cardiovascular EAD in males compared to females and during warmer seasons compared to colder seasons. Our findings contribute new evidence on PM 2.5 exposure and circulatory EAD in relatively polluted areas., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

To control mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, malaria, and Zika, {\it Wolbachia}-infected male mosquitoes have been released in open areas to suppress wild mosquito population driven by cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). In this work, we initiate a preliminary assessment on how the CI intensity $\xi$, and the mating competitiveness $\mu$ of released males relative to wild males, impact the suppression efficacy by a delay differential equation model. Our analysis identifies a threshold CI intensity $\xi&#95;0\in (0, 1)$ as an increasing function of the natural reproduction rate of the wild mosquitoes, and a threshold value $r^*$ for the ratio $r(t)$ between the numbers of released males and wild males. The population suppression fails when $\xi\le \xi&#95;0$, and succeeds when $\xi>\xi&#95;0$ and $r(t)\ge r^*$. Our analyses indicate that $\xi$ plays a more important role than $\mu$ in the population suppression. For instance, a slight decrease of $\xi$ from 1 to 0.92 is more devastating than halving $\mu$ from 1 to 0.5. In our estimation of the optimal starting date for infected male release to target a more than $95\%$ wild population reduction during the peak season of dengue in Guangzhou, we find that the optimal date is almost independent of $\mu$ but is sensitive to $\xi$. If CI is complete, then starting about two months ahead can be an optimal option for less financial and labor costs. A slight reduction in the CI intensity requires a considerably earlier starting date.

Background: Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is a globally prevalent herpesvirus associated with infectious mononucleosis and many malignancies. The survey on EBV prevalence appears to be important to study EBV-related diseases and determine when to administer prophylactic vaccine. The purpose of this retrospective study was to collect baseline information about the prevalence of EBV infection in Chinese children., Methodology/principal Finding: We collected 1778 serum samples from healthy children aged 0 to 10, who were enrolled in conventional health and nutrition examinations without any EBV-related symptom in 2012 and 2013 in North China (n = 973) and South China (n = 805). We detected four EBV-specific antibodies, i.e., anti-VCA-IgG and IgM, anti-EBNA-IgG and anti-EA-IgG, by ELISA, representing all of the phases of EBV infection. The overall EBV seroprevalence in samples from North and South China were 80.78% and 79.38% respectively. The EBV seropositivity rates dropped slightly at age 2, and then increased gradually with age. The seroprevalence became stabilized at over 90% after age 8. In this study, the seroprevalence trends between North and South China showed no difference (P>0.05), and the trends of average antibody concentrations were similar as well (P>0.05)., Conclusions/significance: EBV seroprevalence became more than 50% before age 3 in Chinese children, and exceed 90% after age 8. This study can be helpful to study the relationship between EBV and EBV-associated diseases, and supportive to EBV vaccine development and implementation.