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Long-range transport of North African and Middle Eastern dust has been frequently observed in East Asia. However, understanding of their characteristics and effects in this region is insufficient. In this study, the transboundary transport of multi-source dust was captured by a polarized micro-pulse lidar from April 5 to 10, 2012, during a field campaign in Dunhuang, northwest China. Six dust plumes (DN1-DN6) were selected based on the spatiotemporal evolution of the depolarization ratio. Furthermore, the source, vertical characteristics of the coarse and fine components and their contributions were investigated by combining lidar observation with the WRF-Chem model simulation. The results indicated that DN1 was from Central Asia and it took approximately 4–5 days. DN2 originated from sources in North Africa and the Middle East and took approximately 6–7 days to reach Dunhuang. Samples DN3-DN6 originated from the Taklimakan and Gobi deserts in East Asia. A noticeable contrast was observed in the vertical distribution of the coarse and fine components between the long-range transported (DN1∼DN2) and fresh (DN3∼DN6) dust plumes. DN1 and DN2 presented comparable dust components (DD = Dc + Df, where Dc and Df are coarse- and fine-mode dust, respectively) and non-dust (ND) component contributions and a high predominance of Dc particles was present with at least 40% of total components in DN3-DN4. The contribution of ND particles was nearly negligible in DN5 and DN6. Lidar observations and model simulation both indicated that the maximum contribution of North African and Middle Eastern dust to the local aerosol loading exceeded 58%. However, the model simulation underestimated the contribution of DN1 by an average of 18% compared to lidar observations because DN1 was not reproduced well. This implies that the vertical distribution of dust should be carefully considered when dust impacts (e.g., radiation effects and air quality) are finely assessed using a model on a regional scale. [Display omitted] • POLIPHON algorithm was conducted to the P-MPL observations over northwest China. • A noticeable contrast exists in the vertical structure between the long-range transported and fresh dust plumes. • Model underestimates the contribution of long-range transported dust to local aerosol loading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By characterizing the patterns of temperature extremes over nine integrated agricultural regions (IARs) in China from 1961 to 2011, this study performed trend analyses on 16 extreme temperature indices using a high-resolution (0.5° × 0.5°) daily gridded dataset and the Mann-Kendall method. The results show that annually, at both daytime and nighttime, cold extremes significantly decreased but warm extremes significantly increased across all IARs. Overall, nighttimes tended to warm faster than daytimes. Diurnal temperature ranges (DTR) diminished, apart from the mid-northern Southwest China Region and the mid-Loess Plateau Region. Seasonally, DTR widely diminished across all IARs during the four seasons except for spring. Higher minimum daily minimum temperature (TNn) and maximum daily maximum temperature (TXx), in both summer and winter, were recorded for most IARs except for the Huang-Huai-Hai Region; in autumn, all IARs generally encountered higher TNn and TXx. In all seasons, warming was observed at daytime and nighttime but, again, nighttimes warmed faster than daytimes. The results also indicate a more rapid warming trend in Northern and Western China than in Southern and Eastern China, with accelerated warming at high elevations. The increases in TNn and TXx might cause a reduction in agriculture yield in spring over Northern China, while such negative impact might occur in Southern China during summer. In autumn and winter, however, the negative impact possibly occurred in most of the IARs. Moreover, increased TXx in the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta is possibly related to rapid local urbanization. Climatically, the general increase in temperature extremes across Chinese IARs may be induced by strengthened Northern Hemisphere Subtropical High or weakened Northern Hemisphere Polar Vortex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Extremes of weather and climate can cause disasters such as floods and droughts. Further studies of precipitation extremes are crucial for enabling reliable projections of future changes. In this study, we used a high-resolution (0.5° × 0.5°) gridded precipitation data set to analyse these events across the 11 basins in China between 1961 and 2013 mainly by the Mann-Kendall and generalized extreme value methods. Our results indicated a wetter trend in the Tarim River Basin ( TRB) but drier conditions in the central Yangtze River Basin ( YRB), western Pearl River Basin and eastern Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin. There was an increasing risk of flooding in the mid-lower YRB and Minjiang River Basin ( MRB), and an increasing risk of drought in the central Lantsang River Basin. The results revealed strengthened maximum 1-day precipitation ( RX1DAY) in the Liaohe River Basin ( LB), YRB, MRB and TRB, together with strengthened maximum 5-day precipitation ( RX5DAY) in the Songhua River Basin, MRB and TRB during 1987-2013. RX1DAY and RX5DAY for return periods of 20 and 50 years gradually decreased from southeast to northwest. Along the south-eastern coastline of the Mainland and on Hainan Island, the RX1DAY for the 20- and 50-year return periods would exceed 165 and 195 mm, respectively, whereas the RX5DAY would exceed 270 and 320 mm for the same return periods. Furthermore, summer Southern Oscillation Index ( SOI) positively impacted precipitation extremes in the Yellow River Basin and YRB, and autumn SOI negatively impacted the extremes of the next year in LB and YRB, while winter SOI negatively impacted the extremes of the next year in YRB. Additionally, the East Asia summer monsoon ( EASM) and the South Asia summer monsoon ( SASM) were both associated with precipitation extremes across China; however, EASM contributed more to these events than did the SASM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aims: Oral narrative language is a persistent area of language difficulty for individuals with intellectual disability (ID). This study aims to explore the effectiveness of a comprehensive intervention program that incorporates extended conversations into video-based story retelling instruction with a novel visual support strategy, Story Hand, to develop oral narrative skills in adolescents with ID in China.Methods: Using a single-case multiple-probe across participants design, the researchers examined whether the comprehensive intervention program could improve participants' oral narrative skills both microstructurally and macrostructurally.Results: All three participants demonstrated moderate to high treatment effects in the microstructural narrative outcomes (i.e., the mean length of utterance in morphemes [MLU-M] and the number of different words [NDW]) and one of the macrostructural narrative outcomes (i.e., the complexity of story grammar [SG-complexity]) in response to the comprehensive intervention program, and these acquired effects were maintained at a high level for up to one month. However, all three participants demonstrated limited treatment effects in one of the macrostructural narrative outcomes (i.e., cohesion) in response to the comprehensive intervention program.Conclusions/implications: The comprehensive intervention program that incorporates extended conversations into visually supported video-based story retelling instruction offers an option for teachers to develop oral narrative skills in adolescents with ID. However, the relative effectiveness of the different components of the intervention needs to be further explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yttrium (Y) is a crucial rare earth element, and it is found in the ion-adsorption rare earth ore of Jiangxi province, China, at a percentage of up to 64.9%. This study used density functional theory calculations to investigate the adsorption behaviour and bonding mechanisms of the Y ion on the surface of kaolinite (001). Understanding these would be beneficial for its mineralisation processing and exploitation. [Y(OH) 2 (H 2 O) 7 + was studied as the initial adsorption structure with the lowest binding energy of −1629.19 kJ/mol in an aqueous system. The adsorption models were divided into outer-layer and inner-layer adsorption models based on the adsorption energy and bonding mechanisms. It was found that [Y(OH) 2 (H 2 O) 7 + preferred to adsorb on the Al-OH surface with inner-layer adsorption mainly via the coordination bond of Y–O s , and through hydrogen bonds for outer-layer adsorption. In the outer-layer adsorption, the adsorption energy of [Y(OH) 2 (H 2 O) 7 + on the Al-OH surface was higher than that on the Si–O surface because of the steric hindrance effect of the H in the hydroxyl of the Al-OH surface. The Mulliken bond populations of Y–O s for inner-layer adsorption showed that it was primarily dominated by the bonding orbital. [Display omitted] • The adsorption of hydrated Y3+ on kaolinite surface have been investigated with DFT. • Hydrated [Y(OH) 2 + tend to coordinate with more H 2 O ligands until 7 in aqueous. • The outer-layer adsorption of hydrated [Y(OH) 2 + were related to hydrogen bonds. • Hydrated [Y(OH) 2 + prefer to adsorb on Al-OH surface with inner-layer adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the occurrence and severity of drought in China has had devastating impact on social and economic development. The increase in drought has been attributed to global warming. We used the high-accuracy self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI) to investigate the variation in drought in China between 1961 and 2009 using the Mann-Kendall (MK), continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and the rotated empirical orthogonal function (REOF) methods. We also analyzed the relationship between the rotated principal component time series (RPCs) and 74 circulation indices. The results revealed that: 1) all of China experienced a significant wet trend at annual and seasonal scale; an abrupt change in the drought pattern occurred around 1970 with a 2–8-year significant period; 2) eight major sub-climate regions were identified: Northwest China, Northeast-Inner Mongolia Plateau, Greater Khingan Range area, Northern Tibetan Plateau, Southern Tibetan Plateau, Central China, Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and Southeast China. Of these regions, the Southern Tibetan Plateau experienced a significant wet trend, but the Northeast-Inner Mongolia Plateau and Northern Tibetan Plateau became significantly drier. Using either annual or seasonal scales, Northwest China became significantly wetter and Central China became more arid. In addition, the period of each sub-climate region shared a significant 2–8-year band; 3) the polar vortex exhibited dominant patterns that affected most areas of China. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation had a significant influence on drought evolution, especially for Northwest China and the Huang-Huai-Hai plain. Additionally, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation also affected drought evolution, and the Central China was impacted by the Indian Ocean Dipole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the dampness syndrome score in hypertriglyceridemia and the correlations between hypertriglyceridemia and other chronic diseases and lifestyle factors. Data were retrospectively obtained from individuals who underwent physical examinations at Guangzhou Cadres Health Management Centre from May 2022 to May 2023. t Test, variance analysis, and chi-square test were used to compare the score of dampness syndrome and the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia among different subgroups. Pearson, Spearman correlation analysis, and regression analysis were used to explore the correlations between hypertriglyceridemia and dampness syndrome, chronic diseases, and lifestyle factors. The prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia was 26.70%. Clinical test index and dampness syndrome score were significant differences between hypertriglyceridemia group and normal group (P < .05). Subgroup analyses as a function of the degree of triglyceridemia indicated that the dampness syndrome score increased with increasing degree of triglyceridemia (P < .05). Correlation analysis showed that hypertriglyceridemia was correlated with dampness syndrome, overweight/obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and other chronic diseases (P < .05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, sex, marriage, education level, smoking, drinking, fruit consumption, vegetable consumption, milk and dairy product consumption, dessert or snack consumption, the degree of dampness syndrome, and engagement in exercise were associated with hypertriglyceridemia (P < .05). Hypertriglyceridemia is associated with a variety of chronic diseases and lifestyle factors, and is closely related to dampness syndrome. The score of dampness syndrome can reflect hypertriglyceridemia to a certain extent. It provides more clinical reference for the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia combined with the analysis of dampness syndrome of traditional Chinese medicine., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Introduction: The association of testosterone and cognitive decline is inconclusive, and its joint effect with neurofilaments light chain (NfL) remains largely unknown., Methods: A total of 581 non-demented older men in the Shanghai Aging Study were included. Blood total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (FT), and NfL were measured at baseline. The relationships between TT, FT, TT/FT-NfL, and cognitive decline were explored by Cox regression models., Results: During a median follow-up of 6.7 years, there was an inverse association between TT/FT and cognitive decline (TT, trend p = 0.004, Q1 vs Q4, hazard ratio [HR] = 4.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.60 to 12.04; FT, trend p = 0.002, Q1 vs Q4, HR = 5.29, 95% CI = 1.50 to 16.89). Compared to participants with high TT/FT-low NfL, those with low TT/FT-high NfL had significantly higher risks of cognitive decline (TT, HR = 5.10, 95% CI = 1.11 to 23.40; FT, HR = 6.14, 95% CI = 1.34 to 28.06)., Discussion: Our findings suggest that the combination of testosterone and neurodegenerative markers may provide reliable predictive insights into future cognitive decline., Highlights: Testosterone is inversely associated with cognitive decline in older men. There is a joint effect of testosterone and NfL on cognitive decline. Sex hormone and neurodegeneration may synergistically contribute to cognitive deterioration., (© 2024 The Author(s). Alzheimer's & Dementia published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Alzheimer's Association.)

Objective: The purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the methodological quality of massage-related clinical practice guidelines (CPGs)/consensus on massage using the Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) instrument and to summarize the current status of recommendations in the CPGs., Methods: The Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang Data, China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), China Biology Medicine disc (CBM), PubMed, Embase, and guideline websites (such as the Chinese Medical Ace Base, the China Association of Chinese Medicine, the World Health Organization, Guideline International Network, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network) were searched from inception to October 31, 2022. In addition, the reference lists of relevant studies were reviewed to identify domestic and overseas massage CPGs/consensus. The search terms adopted a combination of subject words and free words, mainly including traditional Chinese medicine, complementary therapies, Tuina, massage, manipulation, chiropractic/osteopathic, spinal, acupressure, guideline, and consensus. Two researchers independently completed the eligible records and extracted the data. Before the formal research, calibrations were performed twice on AGREE II, and all reviewers completed the pilot test three times until they understood and reached an agreement on the assessment items. Three researchers appraised the methodological quality of the included guidelines using the AGREE II instrument and calculated the overall intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of agreement., Results: The evaluation results showed that among the 49 eligible CPGs/consensus, 4 (8.2%) CPGs/consensus were considered "recommended", 15 (30.6%) CPGs/consensus were considered "recommended with modifications", and 30 (61.2%) CPGs/consensus were considered "not recommended", while the consensus was considered "not recommended". Generally, the scores in the six domains of the guidelines were all higher than the consensus. Evaluation results for the overall quality of 36 CPGs showed that 4 (11%) were "good quality", 15 (42%) were "sufficient quality" and 17 (47%) were "lower quality". The AGREE II quality scores of domains ranged from 0.30 to 0.75 ([ICC = 0.993, 95% CI (0.992, 0.995)]). The domain of scope and purpose (domain 1), with a median score of 0.75 (0.52~0.91), performed best in the guidelines with AGREE II, and stakeholder involvement (domain 2) [median 0.39 (0.31~0.56)] and application (domain 5) [median 0.30 (0.17~0.47] obtained lower scores. The consensus score of domain 1 was better at 26.0 (21.6~44.8), followed by rigor of development (domain 3) with a score of 18.0 (10.0~28.9). A total of 119 massage-related recommendations were extracted from 49 guidelines/consensuses, including "in favor" (102, 85.7%), "against" (9, 7.6%), and "did not make recommendations" (8, 6.7%)., Conclusion: The overall quality of the included guidelines was low, and most of the guidelines were not "recommended". In future guideline updates, the existing evidence should be used, the professional composition of members of the expert group should be enriched, and patients' values and preferences should be fully considered. It is necessary to clearly propose recognizable recommendations and strengthen the rigor and standardization of guideline formulation. Thus, clear standard guidelines can be formulated to better guide clinical practice., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This paper reports a case study of an extension design of an existing municipal solid waste (MSW) earth berm in Guangzhou, China. The berm has limited space for extension and was constructed during a rainy season. Due to the space constraint, the extended berm was designed with a steep slope 1.1 horizontal to 1.0 vertical (1.1H:1.0 V). Due to the rainy season, the new extended earth berm was built with a mix of gravel and sandy clay (i.e. V gravel /V clay  = 50:50). To make the new berm design satisfies the stability requirement, it has been reinforced with geotextile layers within the berm and piles at the toe of the berm. A 2D finite-element analysis has been conducted to demonstrate the rationality of the design. The performance of the new berm was monitored using field sensors, which include the vertical and lateral displacements of the berm, vertical earth pressure of the berm, and tensile strain of the geotextile layers during and after the berm construction. Numerical and field tests results show that the failure surface appears along the interface between the old berm and the horizonal displacements are mainly observed in the new berm. The results of this study proven that a steep slope berm with geotextiles reinforcement can resistant the load from extended MSW landfill, which can provide a guidance for the design and construction of the extension of MSW landfill., 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.)

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of air pollutants on hospital admissions for respiratory disease (RD) by using distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) in Lanzhou during 2014-2019. In this study, the dataset of air pollutants, meteorological, and daily hospital admissions for RD in Lanzhou, from January 1st, 2014 to December 31st, 2019, were collected from three national environmental monitoring stations, China meteorological data service center, and three large general hospitals, respectively. A time-series analysis with DLNM was used to estimate the associations between air pollutants and hospital admissions for RD including the stratified analysis of age, gender, and season. The key findings were expressed as the relative risk (RR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) for single-day and cumulative lag effects (0-7). A total of 90, 942 RD hospitalization cases were identified during the study period. The highest association (RR, 95% CI) of hospital admissions for RD and PM 2.5 (1.030, 1.012-1.049), and PM 10 (1.009, 1.001-1.015), and NO 2 (1.047, 1.024-1.071) were observed at lag 07 for an increase of 10 μg/m 3 in the concentrations, and CO at lag07 (1.140, 1.052-1.236) for an increase of 1 mg/m 3 in the concentration. We observed that the RR estimates for gaseous pollutants (e.g., CO and NO 2 ) were larger than those of particulate matter (e.g., PM 2.5 and PM 10 ). The harmful effects of PM 2.5 , PM 10 , NO 2 , and CO were greater in male, people aged 0-14 group and in the cold season. However, no significant association was observed for SO 2 , O 3 8h, and total hospital admissions for RD. Therefore, some effective intervention strategies should be taken to strengthen the treatment of the ambient air pollutants, especially gaseous pollutants (e.g., CO and NO 2 ), thereby, reducing the burden of respiratory diseases., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

The population of wild musk deer (Moschus spp.) has declined in recent decades and reached an endangered status in China. Global climate change may drive the extinction rate of these species. To understand the implications of global warming on the future potential space utilization and migration direction of musk deer, both the maximum entropy model and barycenter migration analysis were utilized. Five global climate models and four representative concentration pathway scenarios were considered to simulate the distribution of six species for the years 2050 and 2070. The results indicated that the suitable habitat area would decrease over the next 30 to 50 years. These decreases of suitable habitat were more significant for the Siberian musk deer (reduced by 4.98% of the land area of China), the forest musk deer (1.04%), the black musk deer (0.86%), and the Himalayan musk deer (1.82%) compared with the other two musk deer species. The area with suitable climate for the Siberian musk deer will migrate to the southwest (to higher elevations) while areas suitable for the Alpine musk deer, the Himalayan musk deer, and the Anhui musk deer would all migrate to the northeast (to higher latitudes). However, the forest musk deer and the black musk deer will not migrate in the same direction, but will mainly migrate to the west and the north, respectively. These results provide data in support for in-situ conservation, ex-situ conservation, natural reserve community, and bio-corridor construction of China's musk deer species in response to global warming., (Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)