Treatment adherence and disease burden of individuals with rheumatic diseases admitted as outpatients to a large rheumatology center in Shanghai, China.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine treatment adherence and disease burden, analyze detailed medication problems experienced by patients, and identify factors associated with adherence in patients with rheumatic diseases in China.

Patients And Methods: Patients with confirmed diagnoses of ankylosing spondylitis (AS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were recruited, regardless of demographics, disease severity, and treatment characteristics. Adherence was assessed using the Compliance Questionnaire for Rheumatology and interview-based self-reports.

[Urban heat island intensity and its grading in Liaoning Province of Northeast China].

According to the recorded air temperature data and their continuity of each weather station, the location of each weather station, the numbers of and the distances among the weather stations, and the records on the weather stations migration, several weather stations in Liaoning Province were selected as the urban and rural representative stations to study the characteristics of urban heat island (UHI) intensity in the province. Based on the annual and monthly air temperature data of the representative stations, the ranges and amplitudes of the UHI intensity were analyzed, and the grades of the UHI intensity were classified. The Tieling station, Dalian station, Anshan station, Chaoyang station, Dandong station, and Jinzhou station and the 18 stations including Tai' an station were selected as the representative urban and rural weather stations, respectively.