Associations of long-term nitrogen dioxide exposure with a wide spectrum of diseases: a prospective cohort study of 0·5 million Chinese adults.

Background: Little evidence is available on the long-term health effects of nitrogen dioxide (NO) in low-income and middle-income populations. We investigated the associations of long-term NO exposure with the incidence of a wide spectrum of disease outcomes, based on data from the China Kadoorie Biobank.

Methods: This prospective cohort study involved 512 724 Chinese adults aged 30-79 years recruited from ten areas of China during 2004-08.

The risk of hospitalization associated with hot nights and excess nighttime heat in a subtropical metropolis: a time-series study in Hong Kong, 2000-2019.

Background: Recent studies showed increased mortality risks after hot nights, but their effect on hospitalizations, especially in vulnerable populations, remains under-studied.

Methods: Daily hospitalization, meteorological (including hourly), and air pollution data were collected for the hot seasons (May-October) of 2000-19 in Hong Kong. We derived three hot-night metrics: HNday, daily minimum temperature ≥28 °C, the governmental definition of hot nights; HNe, hot night excess calculated by summing heat excess of hourly temperatures above 28 °C at night; and HNday, hot nights classified using the 90th percentile HNe (17.

Reproductive factors and risk of lung cancer among 300,000 Chinese female never-smokers: evidence from the China Kadoorie Biobank study.

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality among Chinese females despite the low smoking prevalence among this population. This study assessed the roles of reproductive factors in lung cancer development among Chinese female never-smokers.

Methods: The prospective China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) recruited over 0.

Nondissipative Martensitic Phase Transformation after Multimillion Superelastic Cycles.

Superelastic alloys used for stents, biomedical implants, and solid-state cooling devices rely on their reversible stress-induced martensitic transformations. These applications require the alloy to sustain high deformability over millions of cycles without failure. Here, we report an alloy capable of enduring 10×10^{7} tensile stress-induced phase transformations while still exhibiting over 2% recoverable elastic strains.

Effects of long-term indoor air purification intervention on cardiovascular health in elderly: a parallel, double-blinded randomized controlled trial in Hong Kong.

Ambient fine particulate matter (PM) is a leading environmental risk factor globally, and over half of the associated disease burden are caused by cardiovascular disease. Numerous randomized controlled trials (RCT) have investigated the short-term cardiovascular benefits of indoor air purifiers (IAPs), but major knowledge gaps remain on their longer-term benefits. In this 1-year, randomized, double-blinded, parallel controlled trial of 47 elderly (n = 24; n = 23) aged ≥70 years, true-purification reduced household PM levels by 28% and maintained lower exposure throughout the year compared to the sham-purification group.

Tobacco control in China.

Chinese men consume around 40% of the world's cigarettes, causing a substantial and growing burden of tobacco-attributed death and disease. In 2005, the Chinese Government ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and tobacco control measures have since increased nationwide. To assess tobacco control progress, obstacles, and opportunities, this Review describes the long-term evolution of cigarette consumption and the associated disease burden in mainland China, and the implementation of five important tobacco control strategies advocated by WHO.

RNA-Selective Small-Molecule Ligands: Recent Advances in Live-Cell Imaging and Drug Discovery.

RNA structures, including those formed from coding and noncoding RNAs, alternative to protein-based drug targets, could be a promising target of small molecules for drug discovery against various human diseases, particularly in anticancer, antibacterial and antivirus development. The normal cellular activity of cells is critically dependent on the function of various RNA molecules generated from DNA transcription. Moreover, many studies support that mRNA-targeting small molecules may regulate the synthesis of disease-related proteins via the non-covalent mRNA-ligand interactions that do not involve gene modification.

Characterising personal, household, and community PM exposure in one urban and two rural communities in China.

Background: Cooking and heating in households contribute importantly to air pollution exposure worldwide. However, there is insufficient investigation of measured fine particulate matter (PM) exposure levels, variability, seasonality, and inter-spatial dynamics associated with these behaviours.

Methods: We undertook parallel measurements of personal, household (kitchen and living room), and community PM in summer (May-September 2017) and winter (November 2017-Janauary 2018) in 477 participants from one urban and two rural communities in China.

Alcohol consumption and risks of more than 200 diseases in Chinese men.

Alcohol consumption accounts for ~3 million annual deaths worldwide, but uncertainty persists about its relationships with many diseases. We investigated the associations of alcohol consumption with 207 diseases in the 12-year China Kadoorie Biobank of >512,000 adults (41% men), including 168,050 genotyped for ALDH2- rs671 and ADH1B- rs1229984 , with >1.1 million ICD-10 coded hospitalized events.

Long-term ambient air pollution exposure and cardio-respiratory disease in China: findings from a prospective cohort study.

Background: Existing evidence on long-term ambient air pollution (AAP) exposure and risk of cardio-respiratory diseases in China is mainly on mortality, and based on area average concentrations from fixed-site monitors for individual exposures. Substantial uncertainty persists, therefore, about the shape and strength of the relationship when assessed using more personalised individual exposure data. We aimed to examine the relationships between AAP exposure and risk of cardio-respiratory diseases using predicted local levels of AAP.

Structurally diverse G-quadruplexes as the noncanonical nucleic acid drug target for live cell imaging and antibacterial study.

The formation of G-quadruplex structures (G4s) from guanine (G)-rich nucleic acid sequences of DNA and RNA stabilized with monovalent cations, typically K and Na, under physiological conditions, has been verified experimentally and some of them have high-resolution NMR or -ray crystal structures; however, the biofunction of these special noncanonical secondary structures of nucleic acids has not been fully understood and their existence is still controversial at present. It is generally believed that the folding and unfolding of G4s is a transient process. Accumulating evidence has shown that G4s may play a role in the regulation of certain important cellular functions including telomere maintenance, replication, transcription and translation.

Tobacco smoking and risks of more than 470 diseases in China: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Tobacco smoking is estimated to account for more than 1 million annual deaths in China, and the epidemic continues to increase in men. Large nationwide prospective studies linked to different health records can help to periodically assess disease burden attributed to smoking. We aimed to examine associations of smoking with incidence of and mortality from an extensive range of diseases in China.

Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter and Incidence of Major Cardiovascular Diseases: A Prospective Study of 0.5 Million Adults in China.

Few cohort studies explored the long-term effects of ambient fine particulate matter (PM) on incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), especially in countries with higher levels of air pollution. We aimed to evaluate the association between long-term exposure to PM and incidence of CVD in China. We performed a prospective cohort study in ten regions that recruited 512,689 adults during 2004-2008, with follow-up until 2017.

Solid Fuel, Secondhand Smoke, and Lung Cancer Mortality: A Prospective Cohort of 323,794 Chinese Never-Smokers.

Household air pollution and secondhand tobacco smoke are known carcinogens for lung cancer, but large-scale estimates of the relationship with lung cancer mortality are lacking. Using the large-scale cohort China Kadoorie Biobank, we prospectively investigated associations between these two risk factors and lung cancer death among never-smokers. The Biobank recruited 512,715 adults aged 30-79 years from 10 regions in China during 2004-2008.

Identifying leadership in medical trainees: evaluation of a competency-based approach.

Background: As medical professional roles diversify, it is essential to understand what makes effective medical leaders. This study develops and validates a medical leadership competency framework that can be used to develop and evaluate leaders across all levels of medical organisations.

Method: In Phase One, the authors derived desired leadership traits and behaviours in the medical context from a panel of subject matter experts (SMEs).

Quantification of nickel, cobalt, and manganese concentration using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy.

Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy is one of the most effective, inexpensive, flexible, and simplest analytical techniques to measure species concentration in the liquid phase. It has a wide range of applications such as wastewater treatment, dye degradation, colloidal nanoparticle characterization. It is used in almost every spectroscopy laboratory for routine analysis or research.

Tobacco smoking and solid fuels for cooking and risk of liver cancer: A prospective cohort study of 0.5 million Chinese adults.

Previous research found tobacco smoking and solid fuel use for cooking to increase the risk of chronic liver disease mortality, but previous cohort studies have not investigated their independent and joint associations with liver cancer incidence in contemporary China. The China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) study recruited 0.5 million adults aged 30 to 79 years from 10 areas across China during 2004 to 2008.

Long-term solid fuel use and risks of major eye diseases in China: A population-based cohort study of 486,532 adults.

Background: Over 3.5 billion individuals worldwide are exposed to household air pollution from solid fuel use. There is limited evidence from cohort studies on associations of solid fuel use with risks of major eye diseases, which cause substantial disease and economic burden globally.

Effectiveness of indoor air purification intervention in improving cardiovascular health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Indoor air purifiers are increasingly marketed for their health benefits, but their cardiovascular effects remain unclear. We systematically reviewed and meta-analysed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the cardiovascular effects of indoor air purification interventions in humans of all ages. We searched Embase, Medline, PubMed, and Web of Science from inception to 22 August 2020.