The mortality and years of life lost for community-acquired pneumonia before and during COVID-19 pandemic in China.

Background: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading cause of mortality worldwide, but disease burden of CAP is not clear so far. We aim to explore the spatial and temporal trends of mortality and years of life lost (YLL) due to CAP during 2013-2021 in mainland China, especially the mortality changes before and during COVID-19 pandemic due to COVID-19 related non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs).

Methods: We used data from the National Mortality Surveillance System to estimate the age-standardized rates of death and YLL of CAP at national and provincial level in China during 2013-2021.

Preparation of Amphiphilic Chitosan-Loaded Bentonite Adsorbent and Its Performance in Removing Organic Matter from Coking Wastewater.

An amphiphilic chitosan-loaded bentonite adsorbent (C18CTS-BT) was prepared for the efficient removal of organic matter from coking wastewater. The structure and surface morphology of adsorbents were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, and SEM. The removal of those organics by C18CTS-BT was investigated by comparing the adsorption performances of C18CTS-BT with bentonite (BT) and chitosan-loaded bentonite (CTS-BT).

Can global or national disability weights represent provincial level?

Background: A universal set of disability weights(DWs) is mainly based on the survey of North America, Australia and Europe, whereas the participants in Asia was limited. The debate hasn't yet settled whether a universal DW is desirable or useful.The focus of the debate is its representativenes-s.

Eliciting national and subnational sets of disability weights in mainland China: Findings from the Chinese disability weight measurement study.

Background: The disability weight (DW) quantifies the severity of health states from disease sequela and is a pivotal parameter for disease burden calculation. We conducted a national and subnational DW measurement in China.

Methods: In 2020-2021, we conducted a web-based survey to assess DWs for 206 health states in 31 Chinese provinces targeting health workers via professional networks.

Long-term exposure to ozone and cardiovascular mortality in China: a nationwide cohort study.

Background: The evidence for a causal relationship between long-term ozone exposure and cardiovascular mortality is inconclusive, and most published data are from high-income countries. We aimed to investigate the association between long-term exposure to ozone and cardiovascular mortality in China, the most populous middle-income country.

Methods: We did a nationwide cohort study comprising Chinese adults aged 18 years and older from the 2010-11 China Chronic Disease and Risk Factors Surveillance project; participants were followed up until Dec 31, 2018, or the date of death.

The Effects of Diabetes and Hypertension on the Severity of COVID-19 - Yichang, Hubei Province, 2020.

COVID-19 has become a serious public health issue. A higher proportion of severe patients were senior patients with underlying diseases such as diabetes and hypertension and had a lack of statistical evidence so far. When severe illness was compared with non-severe illness, senior patients were at a greater risk (4.

Excess mortality in Wuhan city and other parts of China during the three months of the covid-19 outbreak: findings from nationwide mortality registries.

Objective: To assess excess all cause and cause specific mortality during the three months (1 January to 31 March 2020) of the coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) outbreak in Wuhan city and other parts of China.

Design: Nationwide mortality registries.

Setting: 605 urban districts and rural counties in China's nationally representative Disease Surveillance Point (DSP) system.

E-cigarette use among adults in China: findings from repeated cross-sectional surveys in 2015-16 and 2018-19.

Background: The use of e-cigarettes among adults is increasing globally. Since 2018, policies in China have restricted e-cigarette use; however, little information is available on the national trend in e-cigarette use before regulations were implemented. Therefore, we sought to estimate the trend in e-cigarette use in China before policy implementation and explored associated factors.

[Evaluating the causal relationship between hip circumference and coronary heart disease: a Mendelian randomization study].

Objective: To test the causal effect of hip circumference adjusted for body mass index(HCadjBMI) and coronary heart disease(CHD) using a Mendelian randomization analysis.

Methods: Based on genome-wide association study, the associations between the genetic instruments(IVs) and HCadjBMI were obtained from the GIANT consortium(n=211 114, European), the associations between IVs and CHD were derided from CARDIoGRAM consortium(n=86 995, European). The inverse-variance weighted method was used to estimate a pooled OR for the effect of a 1 cm higher HCadjBMI on CHD.

Body Shape and Alzheimer's Disease: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis.

Obesity has been reported to be related to memory impairment and decline in cognitive function, possibly further leading to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, observational studies revealed both negative and positive associations between body shape (BS) and AD, thereby making it difficult to confirm causality due to residual confounds and reverse causation. Thus, using genome-wide association study summary data, two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were applied to identify whether there exists a causal association between BS and AD.

Myostatin promotes the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition of the dermomyotome during somitogenesis.

Background: Myostatin (MSTN), a member of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily, has been implicated in the negative regulation of skeletal myogenesis. However, the molecular mechanism through which MSTN regulates early embryonic myogenesis is not well understood.

Results: We demonstrate that MSTN regulates early embryonic myogenesis by promoting the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of the dermomyotome during somitogenesis in chicks.