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Carbon efficiency has attracted increased attention due to the carbon neutrality goal of various responsible countries, including China. R&D element has been proved to be an effective method to promote carbon efficiency from a static perspective without considering spatial factors. However, due to regional inequality in China, the level of carbon efficiency and R&D element flow vary in different regions. If ignoring the importance of R&D element flow from a dynamic perspective and neglecting the spatial factors of carbon efficiency convergence, it may be not conducive to the improvement of carbon efficiency and its overall development. Thus, this study proposes a gravity model to figure out the specific condition of R&D element flow (including R&D personnel flow and R&D capital flow) between Chinese provinces and cities from 2009 to 2019, builds up a MinDS model with undesirable outputs to estimate carbon efficiency and analyzes the characteristics of regional carbon efficiency with kernel density estimation, and employs a spatial Durbin model to investigate the effect of R&D element flow on regional carbon efficiency convergence. The results show that, firstly, the R&D personnel flow and R&D capital flow show a gathering trend in the neighboring regions, and the flow distribution is unbalanced. Secondly, the overall regional carbon efficiency has improved at first, then decreased gradually. There are large spatial differences among Chinese regional carbon efficiency, and the carbon efficiency between provinces and cities converges. Thirdly, R&D element flow promotes regional carbon efficiency convergence. The results of this study can be useful for solving the problem of unequal regional carbon efficiency development by managing the distribution and transfer of R&D element among provinces and cities., 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 © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Cross-boundary transport of air pollution is a difficult issue in pollution control for the North China Plain. In this study, an industrial district (Shahe City) with a large glass manufacturing sector was investigated to clarify the relative contribution of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) to the city's high levels of pollution. The Nest Air Quality Prediction Model System (NAQPMS), paired with Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), was adopted and applied with a spatial resolution of 5 km. During the study period, the mean mass concentrations of PM 2.5 , SO 2 , and NO 2 were observed to be 132.0, 76.1, and 55.5 μg/m 3 , respectively. The model reproduced the variations in pollutant concentrations in Shahe at an acceptable level. The simulation of online source-tagging revealed that pollutants emitted within a 50-km radius of downtown Shahe contributed 63.4% of the city's total PM 2.5 concentration. This contribution increased to 73.9±21.2% when unfavorable meteorological conditions (high relative humidity, weak wind, and low planetary boundary layer height) were present; such conditions are more frequently associated with severe pollution (PM 2.5 ≥ 250 μg/m 3 ). The contribution from Shahe was 52.3±21.6%. The source apportionment results showed that industry (47%), transportation (10%), power (17%), and residential (26%) sectors were the most important sources of PM 2.5 in Shahe. The glass factories (where chimney stack heights were normally < 70 m) in Shahe contributed 32.1% of the total PM 2.5 concentration in Shahe. With an increase in PM 2.5 concentration, the emissions from glass factories accumulated vertically and narrowed horizontally. At times when pollution levels were severe, the horizontally influenced area mainly covered Shahe. Furthermore, sensitivity tests indicated that reducing emissions by 20%, 40%, and 60% could lead to a decrease in the mass concentration of PM 2.5 of of 12.0%, 23.8%, and 35.5%, respectively., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In this study, we propose and construct a novel model that measures regional green development level based on the "three-circle" conceptual framework for green development. Using Jiangsu Province in eastern China as a case study, the spatial-temporal characteristics and dynamics of the green development level from 2000 to 2020 were evaluated using a multi-source dataset at the grid-cell level. Our results show that (1) the analytical hierarchy process-based model proposed herein has higher reliability in terms of the development level measurement than principal component analysis and the entropy weight method. In addition, the average score of green development in the study area was approximately 0.53. Spatially, the green development level in the eastern coastal areas of the study area was found to be generally higher than in other regions, while that in southwestern regions is relatively low. In terms of sub-regions, the green development level scores of the study area have been ranked as follows: middle Jiangsu > southern Jiangsu > northern Jiangsu. (2) It was observed that the gravity center of the green development level can be divided into three stages during the study, with a whole had shifted to the north. (3) For most cities in Jiangsu, the green development level initially increased at first, then declined, and then increased again. (4) In the future, the green development level of Jiangsu Province should pay more attention to promoting regional coordinated development and relationships between society and the environment under rapid economic development., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

With the rapid growth of the economy, there are increasing conflicts between economic development and environmental protection. Among these conflicts, the wastewater emission management as one of the significant ways to alleviate water scarcity has been paid increasing attention across the developing countries, such as China. It is thus essential to comprehensively investigate the enviro-economic effects induced by wastewater-related policies. In this study, a factorial emission-focused general equilibrium model (FEGE) is first developed to facilitate examine the composite enviro-economic effects of multiple policy scenarios with regards to wastewater-related environmental taxes and the related subsides. A special case study for the Municipality of Chongqing, China, is conducted to illustrate the potential benefits of its use in the formulation of wastewater-related policies. It is found that the impacts of various wastewater-related policies (i.e., environmental taxes and the related subside) on GDP are different. In detail, green tax policies on GDP are negative, while wastewater emission intensity (WEI) improvement policies on GDP are positive. When green tax reaches 14 yuan/tonne, which is the maximum proposed by the Chinese government, the GDP will drop by 0.37%, which would be deemed acceptable for the Municipality of Chongqing. In addition, the impacts on rural households' consumption are greater than those on urban households' consumption whichever the application of wastewater-related policies; it is because the rural households in the Municipality of Chongqing have a relatively unitary income source. It is thus recommended that the rural household in Chongqing should be paid more attention. For example, some extra allowances could be considered to the rural household to help them cope with the negative economic impacts induced by a new environmental policy. It is expected that the outputs would provide bases for formulating desired wastewater-related policies., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Objectives: To evaluate the long- and short-term effects of air pollution on COVID-19 transmission simultaneously, especially in high air pollution level countries. Methods: Quasi-Poisson regression was applied to estimate the association between exposure to air pollution and daily new confirmed cases of COVID-19, with mutual adjustment for long- and short-term air quality index (AQI). The independent effects were also estimated and compared. We further assessed the modification effect of within-city migration (WM) index to the associations. Results: We found a significant 1.61% (95%CI: 0.51%, 2.72%) and 0.35% (95%CI: 0.24%, 0.46%) increase in daily confirmed cases per 1 unit increase in long- and short-term AQI. Higher estimates were observed for long-term impact. The stratifying result showed that the association was significant when the within-city migration index was low. A 1.25% (95%CI: 0.0.04%, 2.47%) and 0.41% (95%CI: 0.30%, 0.52%) increase for long- and short-term effect respectively in low within-city migration index was observed. Conclusions: There existed positive associations between long- and short-term AQI and COVID-19 transmission, and within-city migration index modified the association. Our findings will be of strategic significance for long-run COVID-19 control., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Cao, Wang, Pan, Jin, Huang and Li.)

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) is a potential environmental risk factor for COPD. However, association between ambient NO 2 and COPD risk remains underrecognized, especially in the elderly. This study aimed to explore association between NO 2 and years of life lost (YLL) from COPD in the elderly from 2013 to 2017 in 37 major cities in China., Methods: Ambient NO 2 data and COPD morality information were obtained from the National Urban Air Quality Real-time Publishing Platform and the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, respectively. City-specific relative changes in YLL were estimated by generalized additive models, and meta-analysis was used to combine city-specific results. Potential modifications were evaluated. Economic loss due to excess YLL from COPD associated with ambient NO 2 was evaluated., Results: An increase of 10 μg/m 3 in NO 2 for 2-day moving average led to 0.94% (95% CI: 0.56%, 1.31%) relative increase in COPD YLL. The associations were significantly higher in South than North China. Higher estimated effects were found in the warm than the cool season in the southern region. The relevant economic loss accounted for 0.04% (95% CI: 0.02%, 0.05%) of the gross domestic product (GDP) in China during the same period., Conclusions: The findings provide evidence on the impact of short-term NO 2 exposure on COPD YLL in the elderly, which indicated more stringent control of NO 2 pollution and highlighted the need to protect the elderly during the warm season in South China., 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 © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The construction and demolition waste disposal industry plays a vital role in improving the utilisation rate of construction and demolition waste worldwide, however, too little work has been devoted to the industrial economic analysis. To explore the economic pattern and promote the development of the construction and demolition waste disposal industry, the spatial autocorrelation and influencing factors were analysed, and a temporal development process was evaluated. Spatial measurement results show that the spatial autocorrelation of the construction and demolition waste disposal industry is significant at a 1% level. Per capita GDP, annual yield of construction and demolition waste, research and development level, transportation development level, human capital and education level positively affect the construction and demolition waste disposal industry. Conversely marketisation level negatively influences the development of the construction and demolition waste disposal industry. Temporal analysis results reveal that development of the construction and demolition waste disposal industry accelerated significantly in 2016 and increasing by 35.79% because of a policy stimulus. Suggestions on regional management plans and targeted policies for special cities were proposed. A novel perspective for investigating the C&D waste disposal industry was developed, which may be very helpful for researchers from other countries to study the agglomeration effect in various waste disposal industries. The findings can contribute to the development plan of the C&D waste disposal industry, and be of value to investors to make investment and site planning., 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 © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The region along the Taihang Mountains in the North China Plain (NCP) is characterized by serious fine particle pollution. To clarify the formation mechanism and controlling factors, an observational study was conducted to investigate the physical and chemical properties of the fine particulate matter in Jiaozuo city, China. Mass concentrations of the water-soluble ions (WSIs) in PM 2.5 and gaseous pollutant precursors were measured on an hourly basis from December 1, 2017, to February 27, 2018. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) method and the FLEXible PARTicle (FLEXPART) model were employed to identify the sources of PM 2.5 . The results showed that the average mass concentration of PM 2.5 was 111 μg/m 3 during the observation period. Among the major WSIs, sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium (SNA) constituted 62% of the total PM 2.5 mass, and NO 3 - ranked the highest with an average contribution of 24.6%. NH 4 + was abundant in most cases in Jiaozuo. According to chemical balance analysis, SO 4 2- , NO 3 - , and Cl - might be present in the form of (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , NH 4 NO 3 , NH 4 Cl, and KCl. The liquid-phase oxidation of SO 2 and NO 2 was severe during the haze period. The relative humidity and pH were the key factors influencing SO 4 2- formation. We found that NO 3 - mainly stemmed from homogeneous gas-phase reactions in the daytime and originated from the hydrolysis of N 2 O 5 in the nighttime, which was inconsistent with previous studies. The PMF model identified five sources of PM 2.5 : secondary origin (37.8%), vehicular emissions (34.7%), biomass burning (11.5%), coal combustion (9.4%), and crustal dust (6.6%)., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

(1) Background: The health effect of temperature has become a rising public health topic. The objective of this study is to assess the association between apparent temperature and non-accidental deaths, and the mortality burden attributed to cold and heat temperature; (2) Methods: The daily data on temperature and deaths were collected from 10 cities in Thailand, Korea and China. We fitted a time-series regression with a distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) to derive the health risk of temperature for each city and then pooled them to get the overall cumulative risk by multivariate meta-analysis. Additionally, we calculated the attributable fraction of deaths for heat and cold, which was defined as temperatures above and below minimum-mortality temperature (MMT); (3) Results: There are regional heterogeneities in the minimum mortality percentiles (MMP) and attributable fractions for different countries. The MMP varied from about the 5-10th percentile in Thailand to 63-93rd percentile in China and Korea. The attributable fractions of the total deaths due to short-term exposure to temperature in Asia is 7.62%, of which the cold effect (6.44%) is much higher than the heat effect (1.18%); (4) Conclusions: Our study suggested that apparent temperature was associated with an increase in non-accidental mortality. Most of the temperature-related mortality burden was attributable to cold, except for Thailand.

Industrial water-management policies are prevalent around the world to alleviate global water scarcity. It is indispensable to simulate the effects of different water-management policies on various industries in the socioeconomic system to explore the most effective water consumption reduction pathways. In this study, a factorial water policy simulation model is developed to investigate the composite effects of multidimensional interactive water-management policies from both production and consumption perspectives. Structural path analysis and factorial analysis are introduced simultaneously to help support policy formulation according to local reality and further examine the impacts of the main factors and their interactions respectively. The developed model has been applied to the Municipality of Chongqing, China to demonstrate the applicability and superiority of the factorial water policy simulation model. It was found that the impacts of industrial technology upgrade policies on different industries vary significantly. The consumption-orientation policies have a similar performance on direct water consumption reductions. In the Municipality of Chongqing, industrial technology upgrade policies applied to the primary industry will generate larger reductions of water consumption (i.e., 10.1 units reduction of total water consumption) in the system since the primary industry can influence other industries through intermediate utilization. The contribution of interactions for the reductions of direct water consumption was 10.38%, where policies implemented on the primary industry and construction industry have the most significant interaction. In addition, the industry of production and supply of water is closely related to most of the industries since its technical improved can reduce the indirect water consumption of the majority of industries. The results provide bases for supporting the Municipality's efforts in formulating desired water-management policies., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The adverse impact of ozone on public health has attracted worldwide attention. However, few studies have addressed the contribution of ozone to disease burden caused by cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to examine the association between short-term ozone exposure and years of life lost (YLL) from stroke in 48 Chinese cities. City-specific relative change of YLL was estimated by a generalized additive model, then pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. The potential effect modification of individual, climatic, and city-level characteristics was also evaluated. A 10 μg/m 3 increase in three-day moving average of ozone concentration was associated with 0.54% (95% CI: 0.41%, 0.66%), 0.25% (95% CI: 0.10%, 0.40%), and 0.70% (95% CI: 0.48%, 0.92%) relative increment in YLL from stroke, haemorrhagic stroke, and ischaemic stroke, respectively. The association magnitudes were larger in elderly people, females, or higher quartile groups of temperature (all p < 0.01). The potential avoidable life lost due to YLL from stroke was 5.5 days per deceased person if ozone concentration could reduce to the standard recommended by the World Health Organization (100 μg/m 3 ). Our findings provided robust evidence on the impact of short-term ozone exposure on YLL from stroke and called for more stringent regulation of ozone., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background and Objectives: Sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) is a ubiquitous air pollutant and its concentration in China remains at a higher level in the world. However, evidence regarding short-term effect of SO 2 on years of life lost (YLL) from stroke is scarce. We aim to estimate the short-term association between SO 2 pollution and YLL for stroke and the related excess life years and economic loss., Methods: A national time-series study was conducted in 48 Chinese cities from 2013 to 2017. Generalized additive model coupled with random-effects model were used to explore the effects of SO 2 on YLL from stroke. Stratified analyses were performed by demographical and geographical factors, and the effect modification of city-level factors was estimated. In addition, the related economic loss was calculated using the method of the value per statistical life year (VSLY)., Results: Averaged daily mean SO 2 concentration was 27.1 μg/m 3 in 48 Chinese cities from 2013 to 2017. Per 10 μg/m 3 increase in the concentration of SO 2 (lag03) was associated with an increment of 0.70% (95% confidence interval: 0.27%,1.13%), 0.51% (-0.01%,1.04%), 0.71% (0.14%,1.28%) increase in YLL from total stroke, hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke, respectively. The effect of short-term ambient SO 2 exposure on YLL from stroke was more pronounced in the less-educated population and those living in the south. The corresponding excess economic loss during the study period due to SO 2 -related YLL from stroke accounted for 0.08% (0.03%, 0.13%) of the GDP in China., Conclusions: Our results provide evidence from China that short-term exposure to SO 2 is positively associated with YLL from stroke and its major subtypes in certain subgroups of population. This study calls for greater awareness of the adverse health effect due to SO 2 in China and other developing countries, as well as local-specific implementation of air pollution mitigation measures., 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 © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) is one of the major gaseous pollutants in China and other developing countries. Few multicity studies have been done to examine the short-term effect of SO 2 on cause-specific years of life lost (YLL). This study was designed to investigate the burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) associated with SO 2 exposure., Methods: A 5-year time-series study was conducted in 48 Chinese cities from 2013 to 2017. Generalized additive models were first used to estimate the city-specific relationship. Then, random-effects meta-analyses were applied to pool the estimates. Furthermore, the roles of potential modifiers and the related economic loss estimated by the method of value per statistical life year were also evaluated., Results: The annual mean concentration of SO 2 was 27.1 μg/m 3 . A 10 μg/m 3 increase in 4-day moving average (lag03) of SO 2 concentration was associated with 0.83% (95% CI: 0.13%, 1.53%) relative increment in YLL from COPD, and relevant percent change of mortality was 0.78% (95% CI: 0.16%, 1.41%). Moreover, a significantly higher effect was observed in the warm season, particularly in the south region. SO 2 exposure was estimated to account for 1.89% of the total economic loss due to YLL from COPD., Conclusions: Our findings showed a positive association between short-term exposure to SO 2 and YLL from COPD and highlighted the importance of continuous control of SO 2 pollution to reduce corresponding attributable disease burden., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Few multicity studies have been conducted in developing countries to distinguish the acute effects of ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) on the years of life lost (YLL) from different subtypes of stroke. We aimed to differentiate the associations between NO 2 exposure and YLL from major pathological types of stroke in China, and estimate the relevant economic loss. A time-series study was conducted to explore the associations between short-term NO 2 exposure and YLL from ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke from 2013 to 2017 in 48 Chinese cities. Daily NO 2 data and stroke mortality counts for each city were obtained from the National Urban Air Quality Real-time Publishing Platform and Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, respectively. Generalized additive models were applied to estimate the cumulative effects of NO 2 in each city, and meta-analysis was used to combine the city-specific estimates. The relevant economic loss was estimated using the method of the value per statistical life year (VSLY). A 10 μg/m 3 increase in ambient NO 2 concentration on the present day and previous day (lag 0-1) would lead to relatively higher increments in percentage change of YLL from ischaemic stroke (0.82%, 95% CI: 0.46%, 1.19%) than haemorrhagic stroke (0.46%, 95% CI: 0.09%, 0.84%). The association was significantly stronger in the low-education population than high-education population for ischaemic stroke. Furthermore, significantly higher association was found in South China than those in North China for both subtypes of stroke. Economic loss due to excess YLL from ischaemic stroke related to NO 2 exposure was higher than that for haemorrhagic stroke. Our study indicated higher association and economic loss of ischaemic than haemorrhagic stroke related to NO 2 exposure in China, which informed priorities for type-specific stroke prevention strategies related to NO 2 pollution and vulnerable population protection., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The families' data damaged by the earthquake and flood in villages and towns along Fujiang River in Sichuan are collected by using intelligences Internet of, and the process and the degree of ruined the production and life of the farmers in this area are evaluated through the information diffusion technology. The villages and towns had suffered a large loss of integrated risk from floods and earthquakes, with an average annual loss of 5.758 million Yuan. Through the comprehensive suppression and blocking intervention combined with the village watershed management and post-disaster reconstruction, the frequency and the degree of disaster occurrence have gradually decreased in the past decades, and the resilience of infrastructure such as regional rivers and diversion canals to resist integrated disasters have been enhanced and the effect of this design scheme of comprehensive disaster prevention and controlling is remarkable., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Due to extensive pollution and the relatively weak flow replacement in urban rivers, determining how to fully utilize the self-purification abilities of water bodies for water quality protection has been a complex and popular topic of research and social concern. Organic pollution is an important type of urban river pollution, and COD (chemical oxygen demand) is one of the key pollution factors. Currently, there is a lack of research on the relationship between COD degradation and the flow characteristics of urban rivers. In this paper, COD degradation experiments were conducted in an annular flume with Jinjiang River water at controlled flow velocities and the COD degradation coefficients under different hydraulic conditions were analyzed. A good correlation was observed between the degradation coefficient and hydraulic conditions. According to dimensional analysis, the relationship between the COD degradation coefficient and hydraulic conditions such as the flow velocity, water depth, Reynolds number ( Re ), and Froude number ( Fr ) was established as K COD = 86400 u h F r 0.8415 R e - 1.2719 + 0.258 . The COD degradation coefficients of the Chishui River in Guizhou Province ranged from 0.175-0.373 1/d based on this formula, and the field-measured values varied from 0.234-0.463 1/d. The error in the formula ranged from 5.4-25.3%. This study provides a scientific basis for the prediction of the COD degradation coefficients of urban rivers.

Objective: Extreme temperature is an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to temperature variation. Global warming and the increasingly aging population are two major global challenges for human health; thus, an urgent need exists to project the temperature-related cardiovascular disease burden regarding both of the aforementioned factors. We aimed to the project temperature-related burden of cardiovascular diseases using years of life lost (YLL) in the elderly in a Chinese city with typical subtropical climate., Methods: A retrospective time-series study was first conducted to estimate cardiovascular disease burden associated with temperature in the elderly from 2008 to 2015 in Ningbo, China. Then, future projections considering demographic change and adaptation under 19 global-scale climate models (GCMs) and 3 different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) scenarios for the 2050s and 2070s were estimated., Results: The exposure-response curve for temperature on YLL from cardiovascular diseases was U-shaped, with increased YLL for both higher- and lower- than optimal temperature. The projected annual increase in heat-related YLL was outweighed by the decrease in cold-related YLL. However, monthly analysis demonstrated that temperature-related YLL will increase significantly in August. Additionally, heat-related YLL is projected to increase 3.1-11.5 times for the 2050s and 2070s relative to baseline, when considering demographic changes, even with 30% adaptation taken into consideration., Conclusions: Although annual YLL from cardiovascular diseases in the elderly associated with temperature will decrease in the future, heat-related YLL will increase tremendously, which indicates that more adaptation strategies and greenhouse emission control measures should be undertaken to reduce the future heat-related burden of cardiovascular diseases in the elderly., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Increases in the extent and level of air pollution in Chinese cities have become a major concern of the public and burden on the government. While ample literature has focused on the status, changes and causes of air pollution (particularly on PM 2.5 and PM 10 ), significantly less is known on their effects on people. In this study we used Hangzhou, China, as our testbed to assess the direct impact of PM 2.5 on youth populations that are more vulnerable to pollution. We used the ground monitoring data of air quality and Aerosol optical thickness (AOT) product from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for the spatiotemporal changes of PM 2.5 by season in 2015. We further explored these distributions with land cover, population density and schools (kindergarten, primary school and middle school) to explore the potential impacts in seeking potential mitigation solutions. We found that the seasonal variation of PM 2.5 concentration was winter > spring > autumn > summer. In Hangzhou, the percentage of land area exposed to PM 2.5 > 50 µg m -3 accounted for 59.86% in winter, 56.62% in spring, 40.44% in autumn and 0% in summer, whereas these figures for PM 2.5 of <35 µg m -3 were 70.01%, 5.28%, 5.17%, 4.16% in summer, winter, autumn and spring, respectively. As for land cover, forest experienced PM 2.5 of 35⁻50 µg m -3 (i.e., lower than those of other cover types), likely due to the potential filtering and absorption function of the forests. More importantly, a quantitative index based on population-weighted exposure level ( pwel ) indicated that only 9.06% of the population lived in areas that met the national air quality standards. Only 1.66% (14,055) of infants and juveniles lived in areas with PM 2.5 of <35 µg m -3 . Considering the legacy effects of PM 2.5 over the long-term, we highly recommend improving the monitoring systems for both air quality and people (i.e., their health conditions), with special attention paid to infants and juveniles.

Background: To mitigate the serious levels of air pollution in China, the State Council of China issued the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (APPCAP) in 2013. This policy is a milestone in air quality control in China. We aimed to evaluate the effects of the APPCAP on long-term air quality management and the related health impacts in China., Methods: We did an analysis of national air quality monitoring and mortality data to estimate the health impact of the APPCAP from 2013 to 2017 in 74 key cities in China. Changes in mortality and in years of life lost (YLL), an indicator that considers life expectancy at death, were calculated to assess the health impact of air quality management during the 5-year period., Findings: Between 2013 and 2017, annual average concentrations of PM 2·5 decreased by 33·3% (95% CI 16·3-50·3), PM 10 by 27·8% (8·0-47·5), sulphur dioxide by 54·1% (28·2-80·0), and carbon monoxide by 28·2% (3·1-53·3) in the 74 key cities. However, no significant change was seen in annual average concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (9·7% reduction; 95% CI -23·0 to 42·4) or ozone (20·4% increase; -30·1 to 71·0). In 2017, as a result of substantial improvements in air quality, there were 47 240 (95% CI 25 870-69 990) fewer deaths and 710 020 (420 230-1 025 460) fewer YLL in the 74 key cities in China than in 2013., Interpretation: Substantial reductions in mortality and YLL related to control of ambient air pollution were achieved from 2013 to 2017 in China, indicating appreciable effectiveness of China's APPCAP. However, emissions control efforts for ozone and nitrogen dioxide should be strengthened in the future., Funding: National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Key Research and Development Program of China., (Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background and Purpose: Global warming has attracted worldwide attention. Numerous studies have indicated that stroke is associated with temperature; however, few studies are available on the projections of the burden of stroke attributable to future climate change. We aimed to investigate the future trends of stroke years of life lost (YLL) associated with global warming., Methods: We collected death records to examine YLL in Tianjin, China, from 2006 to 2011. We fitted a standard time-series Poisson regression model after controlling for trends, day of the week, relative humidity, and air pollution. We estimated temperature-YLL associations with a distributed lag nonlinear model. These models were then applied to the local climate projections to estimate temperature-related YLL in the 2050s and 2070s. We projected temperature-related YLL from stroke in Tianjin under 19 global-scale climate models and 3 different greenhouse gas emission scenarios., Results: The results showed a slight decrease in YLL with percent decreases of 0.85%, 0.97%, and 1.02% in the 2050s and 0.94%, 1.02%, and 0.91% in the 2070s for the 3 scenarios, respectively. The increases in heat-related annual YLL and the decreases in cold-related YLL under the high emission scenario were the strongest. The monthly analysis showed that the most significant increase occurred in the summer months, particularly in August, with percent changes >150% in the 2050s and up to 300% in the 2070s., Conclusions: Future changes in climate are likely to lead to an increase in heat-related YLL, and this increase will not be offset by adaptation under both medium emission and high emission scenarios. Health protections from hot weather will become increasingly necessary, and measures to reduce cold effects will also remain important., (© 2018 American Heart Association, Inc.)

Background: Particulate matter contained in ambient air pollution has been associated with cardiovascular diseases in several epidemiological studies., Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the potential for urban particulate matter to induce changes in clot structure through interaction with vascular endothelial cells., Methods: We examined the structure of clots formed on human umbilical vascular endothelial cells that had been treated with various types of particles versus those formed on untreated cells. Particles used were standard reference particulate matter from diesel engine emissions (SRM2975) and urban ambient collection (SRM2787)., Results: There was a dose-dependent increase in fibre density in clots formed on particle-treated endothelial cells. It was also found that exposure to the particles induced increased expression of tissue factor and reduced expression of thrombomodulin genes as measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction and increased expression of von Willebrand factor and plasminogen activation inhibitor-1 as measured by ELISA., Conclusion: These changes are consistent with increased procoagulant activity of air pollution particulate matter-treated endothelial cells and suggest that particulate matter has the potential to promote clot formation through changes induced in endothelial genes controlling clot formation., Competing Interests: None declared., (Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart.)

Few studies have explored temperature-mortality relationships in China, especially at the multi-large city level. This study was based on the data of seven typical, large Chinese cities to examine temperature-mortality relationships and optimum temperature of China. A generalized additive model (GAM) was applied to analyze the acute-effect of temperature on non-accidental mortality, and meta-analysis was used to merge data. Furthermore, the lagged effects of temperature up to 40 days on mortality and optimum temperature were analyzed using the distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM). We found that for all non-accidental mortality, high temperature could significantly increase the excess risk (ER) of death by 0.33% (95% confidence interval: 0.11%, 0.56%) with the temperature increase of 1 °C. Similar but non-significant ER of death was observed when temperature decreased. The lagged effect of temperature showed that the relative risk of non-accidental mortality was lowest at 21 °C. Our research suggests that high temperatures are more likely to cause an acute increase in mortality. There was a lagged effect of temperature on mortality, with an optimum temperature of 21 °C. Our results could provide a theoretical basis for climate-related public health policy.

In this paper, we apply the method of Granger causality, which is more accurate than classical correlation analysis method, to determine whether the main air pollutants--Nitrogen oxides (NO(x)), SO(2) (Sulfur Dioxide), CO (carbon monoxide), TSP (total suspended particulates), PM(10) (particulate matter smaller than 10 microns)--and the mortality of respiratory diseases of the residents in Beijing have causal relationship. After ensuring NO(x), SO(2) and CO as the responsible substances, we use the time series method to construct the autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA) of the pollutants, so that we could predict the amount of the pollutants from 2005 to 2008. Then we use the predicted value of pollutants as the input of the neural network model and obtain the output as the change of the death rate of respiratory diseases from 2005 to 2008. In the end, reducing the amount of pollutants by 10% and inputting the data in the neural network model, we make the prediction to evaluate the level of the pollutants and concluded that NO(x) is the most important pollutant to control.