Influencing factors associated with high myopia in Chinese college students.

Background: High myopia (HM) may elicit irreversible pathological changes in the fundus and severely impair visual quality, thereby becoming a major public health issue in China. However, the influencing factors associated with HM remain unknown in Chinese college students, whose visual quality is crucial to country development.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study.

Assessment of PM-related health effects: A comparative study using multiple methods and multi-source data in China.

In China, PM pollution has caused extensive death and economic loss. Thus, an accurate assessment of the spatial distribution of these losses is crucial for delineating priority areas for air pollution control in China. In this study, we assessed the PM exposure-related health effects according to the integrated exposure risk function and non-linear power law (NLP) function in 338 prefecture-level cities in China by utilizing online monitoring data and the PM Hindcast Database (PHD).

[Analysis on application value of Fu's subcutaneous needling for intercostal pain after surgery of osteoporotic thoracic vertebral compression fracture].

Objective: To observe the effect of Fu's subcutaneous needling therapy on pain degree, quality of life, serum 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) in patients with intercostal pain after surgery for osteoporotic thoracic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF) and explore the application value of Fu's subcutaneous needling in treatment of post-operative intercostal pain.

Methods: A total of 60 patients with intercostal pain after OVCF surgery were divided into a medication group and a Fu's subcutaneous needling therapy group, with 30 cases in each group. In the medication group, zoledronic acid injection, salmon calcitonin injection, calcitonin D tablets and mecobalamin tablets were prescribed.

Air pollution and cause-specific mortality: A comparative study of urban and rural areas in China.

Air pollution increases the risks of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and respiratory mortality across China. However, the urban-rural differences in the associations between air pollution and mortality have not been clearly identified. In this study, a distributed lag nonlinear model was used to examine whether the air pollutants-mortality associations vary between urban and rural areas.

Assessing NO-related health effects by non-linear and linear methods on a national level.

Exposure to NO pollution has a significant adverse effect on residents' health. However, few studies have assessed the health effects associated with NO pollution. Compared with PM pollution, the harmfulness of NO pollution has not been quantitatively studied or clearly identified.

The alpine meadow around the mining areas on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau will degenerate as a result of the change of dominant species under the disturbance of open-pit mining.

Mining is well-known as one of the most aggressive human disturbances leading to massive and irreversible damages to natural ecosystems. However, the influence mechanisms of open-pit mining on plant communities and soil properties of alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau are not well understood. In this study, we used structural equation modeling (SEM) to study the influence mechanisms in the disturbed areas of the Qulong copper mine.

Identifying the contributions of multiple driving forces to PM pollution in urban areas in China.

Economic development and urban expansion have accelerated particulate matter pollution in urban areas in China. Particulate matter-driven haze poses a serious threat to human beings from a public health point of view. Substantial evidences had linked adverse health effects with exposures to PM, but recent research indicated that PM also had great risk.

Quantification and driving force analysis of ecosystem services supply, demand and balance in China.

Spatially quantifying ecosystem services (ES) supply, demand and balance dynamics and exploring their relations with socio-economic factors are very significant for regional sustainability. In this study, land use/land cover (LULC) matrix model was used to quantify the relevant capacity of the ES supply, demand and balance in China. Also, we explored the spatial-temporal characteristics of ES at three scales (national, provincial and city scale).

Temporal dynamics of SO and NO pollution and contributions of driving forces in urban areas in China.

SO and NO pollution have significantly reduced the air quality in China in past decades. Haze and acid rain have negatively affected the health of animals, plants, and human beings. Documented studies have shown that air pollution is influenced by multiple socioeconomic driving forces.

Spatio-temporal variations of conservation hotspots based on ecosystem services in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China.

Integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) has been viewed as an appropriate approach to identifying conservation priorities. Taking Xishuangbanna tropical region in Southwest China, different BESs (habitat quality [used as a proxy for biodiversity], carbon storage, and water yield) were quantified using the InVEST model and conservation hotspots from 1976, 1990, and 2010 were identified by overlapping and ranking the service layers. Results showed that BESs areas were unevenly distributed.

A regional strategy for ecological sustainability: A case study in Southwest China.

Partitioning, a method considering environmental protection and development potential, is an effective way to provide regional management strategies to maintain ecological sustainability. In this study, we provide a large-scale regional division approach and present a strategy for Southwest China, which also has extremely high development potential because of the "Western development" policy. Based on the superposition of 15 factors, including species diversity, pattern restriction, agricultural potential, accessibility, urbanization potential, and topographical limitations, the environmental value and development benefit in the region were quantified spatially by weighting the sum of indicators within environmental and development categories.

Spatial Distribution of Metals and Associated Risks in Surface Sediments Along a Typical Urban River Gradient in the Beijing Region.

Surface sediments from Beiyun River located in the rapidly urbanized Beijing metropolis were collected and analyzed for heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) to investigate their spatial distribution pattern, ecotoxicology and source identification. Results indicated the average heavy metal concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn were approximately 4, 2, 3, 2, and 4 times higher than their background values. Spatially, we found the concentrations of heavy metals made significant change in four sections along urbanized river gradients.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of grassland aboveground biomass on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau based on validated MODIS NDVI.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of aboveground biomass (AGB) is a fundamental problem for grassland environmental management on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP). Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data can feasibly be used to estimate AGB at large scales, and their precise validation is necessary to utilize them effectively. In our study, the clip-harvest method was used at 64 plots in QTP grasslands to obtain actual AGB values, and a handheld hyperspectral spectrometer was used to calculate field-measured NDVI to validate MODIS NDVI.