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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an unprecedented global health crisis that may cause mental health problems and heighten suicide risk. We investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on trends in suicide attempts and suicide deaths in New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Methods
The current study used the official daily data on suicide attempts and deaths in New Taipei City, Taiwan (4 million inhabitants) between 2015 and 2020 from the Taiwan National Suicide Prevention Reporting System. Interrupted time-series (ITS) analyses with parameters corrected by the estimated autocorrelations were applied on weekly aggregated data to examine whether the suicide trends during the early COVID-19 pandemic (late January to July 2020) deviated from previous trends (January 2015 to late January 2020). The impact due to the suicide prevention policy change was also examined (since August 2020).
Results
ITS analyses revealed no significant increases in both mean and trend on weekly suicide deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic and after the policy change. In contrast, there was a significant increasing trend in weekly suicide attempts since the COVID-19 outbreak at the rate of 1.54 attempts per week (95% confidence interval 0.49–2.60; p = 0.004). Sex difference analysis revealed that, however, this increasing trend was observed only in females not in males.
Conclusions
The COVID-19 pandemic has different impacts on suicides attempts and deaths during the early pandemic in New Taipei City, Taiwan. The COVID-19 outbreak drastically increased the trend of suicide attempts. In contrast, the number of suicide deaths had remained constant in the investigated periods.
External modulation on thermal convection has been studied extensively to achieve the control of flow structures and heat-transfer efficiency. In this paper, we carry out direct numerical simulations on Rayleigh–Bénard convection accounting for both the modulation of wall shear and roughness over the Rayleigh number range $1.0 \times 10^6 \le Ra \le 1.0 \times 10^8$, the wall shear Reynolds number range $0 \le Re_w \le 5000$, the aspect-ratio range $2 \le \varGamma \le 4{\rm \pi}$, and the dimensionless roughness height range $0 \le h \le 0.2$ at fixed Prandtl number $Pr = 1$. Under the combined actions of wall shear and roughness, with increasing $Re_w$, the heat flux is initially enhanced in the buoyancy-dominant regime, then has an abrupt transition near the critical shear Reynolds number $Re_{w,cr}$, and finally enters the purely diffusion regime dominated by shear. Based on the crossover of the kinetic energy production between the buoyancy-dominant and shear-dominant regimes, a physical model is proposed to predict the transitional scaling behaviour between $Re_{w,cr}$ and $Ra$, i.e. $Re_{w,cr} \sim Ra^{9/14}$, which agrees well with our numerical results. The reason for the observed heat-transport enhancement in the buoyancy-dominant regime is further explained by the fact that the moving rough plates introduce an external shear to strengthen the large-scale circulation (LSC) in the vertical direction and serve as a conveyor belt to increase the chances of the interaction between the LSC and secondary flows within cavities, which triggers more thermal plumes, efficiently transports the trapped hot (cold) fluids outside cavities.
Primitive lamprophyres in orogenic belts can provide crucial insights into the nature of the subcontinental lithosphere and the relevant deep crust–mantle interactions. This paper reports a suite of relatively primitive lamprophyre dykes from the North Qiangtang, central Tibetan Plateau. Zircon U–Pb ages of the lamprophyre dykes range from 214 Ma to 218 Ma, with a weighted mean age of 216 ± 1 Ma. Most of the lamprophyre samples are similar in geochemical compositions to typical primitive magmas (e.g. high MgO contents, Mg no. values and Cr, with low FeOt/MgO ratios), although they might have experienced a slightly low degree of olivine crystallization, and they show arc-like trace-element patterns and enriched Sr–Nd isotopic composition ((87Sr/86Sr)i = 0.70538–0.70540, ϵNd(t) = −2.96 to −1.65). Those geochemical and isotopic variations indicate that the lamprophyre dykes originated from partial melting of a phlogopite- and spinel-bearing peridotite mantle modified by subduction-related aqueous fluids. Combining with the other regional studies, we propose that slab subduction might have occurred during Late Triassic time, and the rollback of the oceanic lithosphere induced the lamprophyre magmatism in the central Tibetan Plateau.
Maritime video surveillance has become an essential part of the vessel traffic services system, intended to guarantee vessel traffic safety and security in maritime applications. To make maritime surveillance more feasible and practicable, many intelligent vision-empowered technologies have been developed to automatically detect moving vessels from maritime visual sensing data (i.e., maritime surveillance videos). However, when visual data is collected in a low-visibility environment, the essential optical information is often hidden in the dark, potentially resulting in decreased accuracy of vessel detection. To guarantee reliable vessel detection under low-visibility conditions, the paper proposes a low-visibility enhancement network (termed LVENet) based on Retinex theory to enhance imaging quality in maritime video surveillance. LVENet is a lightweight deep neural network incorporating a depthwise separable convolution. The synthetically-degraded image generation and hybrid loss function are further presented to enhance the robustness and generalisation capacities of LVENet. Both full-reference and no-reference evaluation experiments demonstrate that LVENet could yield comparable or even better visual qualities than other state-of-the-art methods. In addition, it takes LVENet just 0⋅0045 s to restore degraded images with size 1920 × 1080 pixels on an NVIDIA 2080Ti GPU, which can adequately meet real-time requirements. Using LVENet, vessel detection performance can be greatly improved with enhanced visibility under low-light imaging conditions.
The aim of the present study was to compare the rate of preterm birth (PTB) and growth from birth to 18 years between twins conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF) and twins conceived by spontaneous conception (SC) in mainland China. The retrospective cohort study included 1164 twins resulting from IVF and 25,654 twins conceived spontaneously, of which 494 from IVF and 6338 from SC were opposite-sex twins. PTB and low birth weight (LBW), and growth, including length/height and weight, were compared between the two groups at five stages: infancy (0 year), toddler period (1–2 years), preschool (3–5 years), primary or elementary school (6–11 years), and adolescence (10–18 years). Few statistically significant differences were found for LBW and growth between the two groups after adjusting for PTB and other confounders. Twins born by IVF faced an increased risk of PTB compared with those born by SC (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 8.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] [3.19, 21.13], p < .001 in all twins and aOR 10.12, 95% CI [2.32, 44.04], p = .002 in opposite-sex twins). Twins born by IVF experienced a similar growth at five stages (0–18 years old) when compared with those born by SC. PTB risk, however, is significantly higher for twins conceived by IVF than those conceived by SC.
Schizophrenia is a severe and complex psychiatric disorder that needs treatment based on extensive experience. Antipsychotic drugs have already become the cornerstone of the treatment for schizophrenia; however, the therapeutic effect is of significant variability among patients, and only around a third of patients with schizophrenia show good efficacy. Meanwhile, drug-induced metabolic syndrome and other side-effects significantly affect treatment adherence and prognosis. Therefore, strategies for drug selection are desperately needed. In this study, we will perform pharmacogenomics research and set up an individualised preferred treatment prediction model.
Aims
We aim to create a standard clinical cohort, with multidimensional index assessment of antipsychotic treatment for patients with schizophrenia.
Method
This trial is designed as a randomised clinical trial comparing treatment with different kinds of antipsychotics. A total sample of 2000 patients with schizophrenia will be recruited from in-patient units from five clinical research centres. Using a computer-generated program, the participants will be randomly assigned to four treatment groups: aripiprazole, olanzapine, quetiapine and risperidone. The primary outcomes will be measured as changes in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale of schizophrenia, which reflects the efficacy. Secondary outcomes include the measure of side-effects, such as metabolic syndromes. The efficacy evaluation and side-effects assessment will be performed at baseline, 2 weeks, 6 weeks and 3 months.
Results
This trial will assess the efficacy and side effects of antipsychotics and create a standard clinical cohort with a multi-dimensional index assessment of antipsychotic treatment for schizophrenia patients.
Conclusion
This study aims to set up an individualized preferred treatment prediction model through the genetic analysis of patients using different kinds of antipsychotics.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical characteristics and outcomes in 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients and to help clinicians perform correct treatment and evaluate prognosis and guide the treatment.
Methods:
Patients totaling 239 were diagnosed with COVID-19 and were included in this study. Patients were divided into the improvement group and the death group according to their outcome (improvement or death). Clinical characteristics and laboratory parameters were collected from medical records. Continuous variables were tested by an independent sample T test, and categorical variables were analyzed by the chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test. The Cox proportional hazard regression model was used for survival analysis in death patients. The time-dependent area under curves (AUC) based on white blood cell count, lymphocyte count, neutrophil count by age, blood urea nitrogen, and C-reactive protein were plotted.
Results:
Efficacy evaluation indicated that 99 (41.4%) patients had deteriorated, and 140 (58.6%) patients had improved. Oxygen saturation, hemoglobin levels, infection-related indicators, lymphocyte and platelet counts, C-reactive protein, serum albumin, liver and kidney function, and lactate dehydrogenase in improvement group were statistically significant between the improvement and death groups. A survival analysis revealed that comorbidities, lymphocyte counts, platelet count, serum albumin, C-reactive protein level, and renal dysfunction may be risk factors in patients with COVID-19.
Conclusion:
Patients with comorbidities, lower lymphocyte counts in hemogram, platelet count and serum albumin, high C-reactive protein level, and renal dysfunction may have higher risk for death. More attention should be given to risk management in the progression of COVID-19.
Although poverty associated with severe mental illness (SMI) has been documented in many studies, little long-term evidence of social drift exists. This study aimed to unravel the poverty transitions among persons with SMI in a fast change community in China.
Methods
Two mental health surveys, using the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10), were conducted in the same six townships of Xinjin county, Chengdu, China in 1994 and 2015. A total of 308 persons with SMI identified in 1994 were followed up in 2015. The profiles of poverty transitions were identified and regression modelling methods were applied to determine the predictive factors of poverty transitions.
Results
The poverty rate of persons with SMI increased from 39.9% to 49.4% in 1994 and 2015. A larger proportion of them had fallen into poverty (27.3%) rather than moved out of it (17.8%). Those persons with SMI who had lost work ability, had physical illness and more severe mental disabilities in 1994, as well as those who had experienced negative changes on these factors were more likely to live in persistent poverty or fall into poverty. Higher education level and medical treatment were major protective factors of falling into poverty.
Conclusions
This study shows long-term evidence on the social drift of persons with SMI during the period of rapid social development in China. Further targeted poverty alleviation interventions should be crucial for improving treatment and mental recovery and alleviating poverty related to SMI.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a major threat to the public. However, the comprehensive profile of suicidal ideation among the general population has not been systematically investigated in a large sample in the age of COVID-19.
Methods
A national online cross-sectional survey was conducted between February 28, 2020 and March 11, 2020 in a representative sample of Chinese adults aged 18 years and older. Suicidal ideation was assessed using item 9 of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. The prevalence of suicidal ideation and its risk factors was evaluated.
Results
A total of 56,679 participants (27,149 males and 29,530 females) were included. The overall prevalence of suicidal ideation was 16.4%, including 10.9% seldom, 4.1% often, and 1.4% always suicidal ideation. The prevalence of suicidal ideation was higher in males (19.1%) and individuals aged 18–24 years (24.7%) than in females (14.0%) and those aged 45 years and older (11.9%). Suicidal ideation was more prevalent in individuals with suspected or confirmed infection (63.0%), frontline workers (19.2%), and people with pre-existing mental disorders (41.6%). Experience of quarantine, unemployed, and increased psychological stress during the pandemic were associated with an increased risk of suicidal ideation and its severity. However, paying more attention to and gaining a better understanding of COVID-19-related knowledge, especially information about psychological interventions, could reduce the risk.
Conclusions
The estimated prevalence of suicidal ideation among the general population in China during COVID-19 was significant. The findings will be important for improving suicide prevention strategies during COVID-19.
The outbreak of COVID-19 generated severe emotional reactions, and restricted mobility was a crucial measure to reduce the spread of the virus. This study describes the changes in public emotional reactions and mobility patterns in the Chinese population during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Methods
We collected data on public emotional reactions in response to the outbreak through Weibo, the Chinese Twitter, between 1st January and 31st March 2020. Using anonymized location-tracking information, we analyzed the daily mobility patterns of approximately 90% of Sichuan residents.
Results
There were three distinct phases of the emotional and behavioral reactions to the COVID-19 outbreak. The alarm phase (19th–26th January) was a restriction-free period, characterized by few new daily cases, but a large amount public negative emotions [the number of negative comments per Weibo post increased by 246.9 per day, 95% confidence interval (CI) 122.5–371.3], and a substantial increase in self-limiting mobility (from 45.6% to 54.5%, changing by 1.5% per day, 95% CI 0.7%–2.3%). The epidemic phase (27th January–15th February) exhibited rapidly increasing numbers of new daily cases, decreasing expression of negative emotions (a decrease of 27.3 negative comments per post per day, 95% CI −40.4 to −14.2), and a stabilized level of self-limiting mobility. The relief phase (16th February–31st March) had a steady decline in new daily cases and decreasing levels of negative emotion and self-limiting mobility.
Conclusions
During the COVID-19 outbreak in China, the public's emotional reaction was strongest before the actual peak of the outbreak and declined thereafter. The change in human mobility patterns occurred before the implementation of restriction orders, suggesting a possible link between emotion and behavior.
To investigate the cumulative effects of maternal supplementation with nucleotides in the form of uridine (UR) on fatty acid and amino acid constituents of neonatal piglets, fifty-two sows in late gestation were assigned randomly into the control (CON) group (fed a basal diet) or UR group (fed a basal diet with 150 g/t UR). Samples of neonates were collected during farrowing. Results showed that supplementing with UR in sows’ diet significantly decreased the birth mortality of pigs (P = 0·05), and increased serum total cholesterol, HDL and LDL of neonatal piglets (P < 0·05). Moreover, the amino acid profile of serum and liver of neonatal piglets was affected by the addition of UR in sows’ diets (P < 0·05). Furthermore, an up-regulation of mRNA expression of energy metabolism-related genes, including fatty acid elongase 5, fatty acid desaturase 1, hormone-sensitive lipase and cholesterol-7a-hydroxylase, was observed in the liver of neonates from the UR group. Additionally, a decrease in placental gene expression of excitatory amino acid transporters 2, excitatory amino acid transporter 3 and neutral AA transporter 1 in the UR group was concurrently observed (P < 0·05), and higher protein expression of phosphorylated protein kinase B, raptor, PPARα and PPARγ in placenta from the UR group was also observed (P < 0·05). Together, these results showed that maternal UR supplementation could regulate placental nutrient transport, largely in response to an alteration of mTORC1–PPAR signalling, thus regulating the nutrition metabolism of neonatal piglets and improving reproductive performance.
Data on average iodine requirements for the Chinese population are limited following implementation of long-term universal salt iodisation. We explored the minimum iodine requirements of young adults in China using a balance experiment and the ‘iodine overflow’ hypothesis proposed by our team. Sixty healthy young adults were enrolled to consume a sequential experimental diet containing low, medium and high levels of iodine (about 20, 40 and 60 μg/d, respectively). Each dose was consumed for 4 d, and daily iodine intake, excretion and retention were assessed. All participants were in negative iodine balance throughout the study. Iodine intake, excretion and retention differed among the three iodine levels (P < 0·01 for all groups). The zero-iodine balance derived from a random effect model indicated a mean iodine intake of 102 μg/d, but poor correlation coefficients between observed and predicted iodine excretion (r 0·538 for μg/d data) and retention (r 0·304 for μg/d data). As iodine intake increased from medium to high, all of the increased iodine was excreted (‘overflow’) through urine and faeces by males, and 89·5 % was excreted by females. Although the high iodine level (63·4 μg/d) might be adequate in males, the corresponding level of 61·6 μg/d in females did not meet optimal requirements. Our findings indicate that a daily iodine intake of approximately half the current recommended nutrient intake (120 μg/d) may satisfy the minimum iodine requirements of young male adults in China, while a similar level is insufficient for females based on the ‘iodine overflow’ hypothesis.
In late December 2019, patients of atypical pneumonia due to an unidentified microbial agent were reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Subsequently, a novel coronavirus was identified as the causative pathogen which was named SARS-CoV-2. As of 12 February 2020, more than 44 000 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been confirmed in China and continue to expand. Provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of China have launched first-level response to major public health emergencies one after another from 23 January 2020, which means restricting movement of people among provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. The aim of this study was to explore the correlation between the migration scale index and the number of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and to depict the effect of restricting population movement. In this study, Excel 2010 was used to demonstrate the temporal distribution at the day level and SPSS 23.0 was used to analyse the correlation between the migration scale index and the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. We found that since 23 January 2020, Wuhan migration scale index has dropped significantly and since 26 January 2020, Hubei province migration scale index has dropped significantly. New confirmed COVID-19 cases per day in China except for Wuhan gradually increased since 24 January 2020, and showed a downward trend from 6 February 2020. New confirmed COVID-19 cases per day in China except for Hubei province gradually increased since 24 January 2020, and maintained at a high level from 24 January 2020 to 4 February 2020, then showed a downward trend. Wuhan migration scale index from 9 January to 22 January, 10 January to 23 January and 11 January to 24 January was correlated with the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases per day in China except for Wuhan from 22 January to 4 February. Hubei province migration scale index from 10 January to 23 January and 11 January to 24 January was correlated with the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases per day in China except for Hubei province from 22 January to 4 February. Our findings suggested that people who left Wuhan from 9 January to 22 January, and those who left Hubei province from 10 January to 24 January, led to the outbreak in the rest of China. The ‘Wuhan lockdown’ and the launching of the first-level response to this major public health emergency may have had a good effect on controlling the COVID-19 epidemic. Although new COVID-19 cases continued to be confirmed in China outside Wuhan and Hubei provinces, in our opinion, these are second-generation cases.
We investigate the phased evolution and variation of the South Asian monsoon and resulting weathering intensity and physical erosion in the Himalaya–Karakoram Mountains since late Pliocene time (c. 3.4 Ma) using a comprehensive approach. Neodymium and strontium isotopic compositions and single-grain zircon U–Pb age spectra reveal the sources of the deposits in the east Arabian Sea, and show a combination of sources from the Himalaya and the Karakoram–Kohistan–Ladakh Mountains, with sediments from the Indian Peninsula such as the Deccan Traps or Craton. We interpret shifts in the sediment sources to have been forced by sea-level changes that correlate with South Asian monsoon rainfall variation since late Pliocene time. We collected 908 samples from the International Ocean Discovery Program Hole U1456A, which was drilled in the east Arabian Sea. Time series of hematite content and grain size of the sediments were examined downcore. We found South Asian monsoon precipitation and weathering intensity experienced three phases from late Pliocene time. Lower monsoon precipitation, with a lower variability and strong weathering intensity, occurred during 3.4–2.4 Ma; an increased and more variable South Asian monsoon rainfall, along with strengthened but fluctuating weathering intensity, occurred at 1.8–1.1 Ma; and a reduced rainfall with lower South Asian monsoon precipitation variability and moderate weathering intensity marked the period 1.1–0.1 Ma. Maximum entropy spectral analysis and wavelet transform show that there were orbital-dominated cycles of periods c. 100 and c. 41 ka in these proxy-based time series. We propose that the monsoon, sea level, global temperature and insolation together forced the weathering and erosion in SW Asia.
Recently, layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have attracted intensive research interest as the next-generation supercapacitor electrodes due to their unique two-dimensional (2D) hydrotalcite-like structure. However, the inevitable agglomeration significantly decreases the accessible surface areas and blocks the pseudocapacitive sites, thus severely hinders their electrochemical applications. Herein, we develop a facile one-step growth approach to fabricate porous agglomerate of NiCo-LDH nanosheets and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanoflakes. By adjusting feeding molar ratios, the obtained NiCo-LDH/rGO electrode delivers a high specific capacity of 879.5 C/g at a current density of 0.5 A/g and still remains 485 C/g at 20 A/g. Furthermore, the fabricated asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) has demonstrated a superior energy density of 48.7 W h/kg at a power density of 401 W/kg. After 2000 cycles, the assembled ASC exhibits an improved capacity retention of 81% within a potential window of 1.6 V at 2 A/g.
To summarize characteristics and commonalities of non-technical competency frameworks for health professionals in emergency and disaster.
Methods:
An electronic literature search was conducted in PubMed, MEDLINE, ERIC, Scopus, Cochrane database, and Google Scholar to identify original English-language articles related to development, evaluation or application of the nontechnical competency frameworks. Reviewers assessed identified articles for exclusion/inclusion criteria and abstracted data on study design, framework characteristics, and reliability/validity evidence.
Results:
Of the 9627 abstracts screened, 65 frameworks were identified from 94 studies that were eligible for result extraction. Sixty (63.8%) studies concentrated on clinical settings. Common scenarios of the studies were acute critical events in hospitals (44;46.8%) and nonspecified disasters (39;41.5%). Most of the participants (76; 80.9%) were clinical practitioners, and participants in 36 (38.3%) studies were multispecialty. Thirty-three (50.8%) and 42 (64.6%) frameworks had not reported evidence on reliability and validity, respectively. Fourteen of the most commonly involved domains were identified from the frameworks.
Conclusions:
Nontechnical competency frameworks applied to multidisciplinary emergency health professionals are heterogeneous in construct and application. A fundamental framework with standardized terminology for the articulation of competency should be developed and validated so as to be accepted and adapted universally by health professionals in all-hazard emergency environment.
The association between milk consumption and the metabolic syndrome remains inconclusive, and data from Chinese populations are scarce. We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the association between milk consumption and the metabolic syndrome and its components among the residents of Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, China. A total of 5149 participants were included in the final analysis. A logistic regression model was applied to estimate the OR and 95 % CI for the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its components according to milk consumption. In addition, the results of our study were further meta-analysed with other published observational studies to quantify the association between the highest v. lowest categories of milk consumption and the metabolic syndrome and its components. There was no significant difference in the odds of having the metabolic syndrome between milk consumers and non-milk consumers (OR 0·86, 95 % CI 0·73, 1·01). However, milk consumers had lower odds of having elevated waist circumference (OR 0·78, 95 % CI 0·67, 0·92), elevated TAG (OR 0·83, 95 % CI 0·70, 0·99) and elevated blood pressure (OR 0·85, 95 % CI 0·73, 0·99). When the results were pooled together with other published studies, higher milk consumption was inversely associated with the risk of the metabolic syndrome (relative risk 0·80, 95 % CI 0·72, 0·88) and its components (except elevated fasting blood glucose); however, these results should be treated with caution as high heterogeneity was observed. In summary, the currently available evidence from observational studies suggests that higher milk consumption may be inversely associated with the metabolic syndrome.
The Chinese National Twin Registry (CNTR), initiated in 2001, has now become the largest twin registry in Asia. From 2015 to 2018, the CNTR continued to receive Chinese government funding and had recruited 61,566 twin-pairs by 2019 to study twins discordant for specific exposures such as environmental factors, and twins discordant for disease outcomes or measures of morbidity. Omic data, including genetics, genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics, and gut microbiome will be tested. The integration of omics and digital technologies in public health will advance our understanding of precision public health. This review introduces the updates of the CNTR, including study design, sample size, biobank, zygosity assessment, advances in research and future systems epidemiologic research.