Objective To study the effects of PM2.5 and PM10 of dust storm on the secretion of nitrogen oxide(NO), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor-?(TNF-?)in the alveolar macrophages(AM)of rat in vitro. Methods PM2.5 and PM10 were collected during dust storm period in the urban area of Beijing. The tested cells were primary cultured alveolar macrophages. Cytotoxicity of the particles was measured by MTT assay. The content of NO was determined using Griess reagent. The levels of cytokines IL-8 and TNF-? were determined using radioimmunity assay. Results After treatment for 24 h, PM2.5 and PM10 caused cytotoxicity to AM and the survival rate of the cells was decreased with the increasing exposure dose of the dust to the rats and the survival rate of the cells in the high dosage group was 80% of the control group. At concentrations of 20～150 ?g/ml, PM2.5 and PM10 increased the secretion of NO, TNF-? and IL-8 in AM in a dose-dependent manner. The cytotoxicity of PM2.5 was stronger than that of the PM10 at the same concentration, while the effects on the increasing secretion of NO, IL-8 and TNF-? induced by PM2.5 was smaller than that of the PM10. Conclusion PM2.5 and PM10 of dust storm could induce the secretion of inflammatory factors NO, IL-8 and TNF-? in rat AM.

Objective To investigate the contamination level of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in the public places and workplaces in Dongcheng district of Beijing and identify the influencing factors for ETS exposure. Methods The contamination level of ETS in 14 public places and workplaces of Dongcheng district were monitored with passive sampler of vapor-phase nicotine during Apr.-Feb.,2004. Results Nicotine was detected from all monitor sites at the 14 locations. The lowest air nicotine concentration was detected in no smoking places and the highest one was detected in non-regulation places. There were many factors which were found to influence the indoor air nicotine concentration,including legislation,the number of smokers and the room space,etc. The most significant factor was found to be the numbers of smokers. Conclusion Exposure to ETS in the pubic places and workplaces has become a major pubic and occupational health issue at present.

SUMMARY Traffic noise pollution problem is increasingly emerging with the rapid developmentof urban traffic. Researchers have paid close attention to the health effects of traffic noise. This review has summarized the recent research progress in the health effects of traffic noise both at home and abroad. Traffic noise can have various ad-verse health effects, and most of them are extra-auditory effects. The main aspects include that traffic noise can af-fect the cardiovascular system, which is verified by the evidence that exposure to traffic noise significantly increases the risk for cardiovascular diseases, such as high blood pressure, myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, and so on. In addition, traffic noise can induce adverse effects on nervous system, leading to the increasing levels of anxiety, noise annoyance, and occurrence of insomnia. Furthermore, traffic noise is significantly associated with adverse pregnant outcomes, and can affect the endocrine system and digestive system. As traffic noise and traffic related air pollutants co-exist in the traffic environment, whether there are joint effects between these two factors have become areas of research focus nowadays. Although there is sufficient evidence that traffic noise has adverse health effects, inadequacies still existe. Analysis of the shortages of current studies and the prospects of the future studies are pointed out in this review.

Objective To compare the treatment effect of laparoscopic appendectomy(LA) and open appendectomy (OA). Methods One hundred and forty-five cases of LA performed from May 2003 to May 2005, and 142 cases of OA performed from June 2001 to March 2003 were studied retrospectively. Results There was no difference in operative time between group LA and group OA. In the procedure of LA, some occult disease could be discovered and treated, while OA was not. The administration of analgesic, activity time, incidence of incision infection and hospital stay in group LA were better than those of OA group. While the cost of hospitalization in LA was higher than that of OA. Conclusion LA has significant advantages in treating appendicitis and it should be promoted.

Objective:To compare the differences of children’ s health in different area, and to confirm if the prevalence of respiratory diseases and symptoms among children are closely associated with the air pollution. Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted in an urban area A and a suburban area B with different levels of air pollution in Beijing. Using a cluster sampling method, we recruited 4 564 chil-dren from 3 primary schools in urban A and 4 primary schools in suburban B. Respiratory symptoms were investigated using an international standardized questionnaire including characteristics of children, living conditions, respiratory diseases and symptoms and situation of parents. The concentrations of air pollu-tants for recent five years were obtained from Reports on the Quality of the Beijing Environment. SPSS 16. 0 was used to analyze data. Results: The prevalence of cough, persistent cough, phlegm, persistent phlegm, wheeze and asthma in A area were higher than those in B area[(62. 2% vs. 59. 9%), (6. 3%vs. 3. 1%), (42. 4% vs. 37. 4%),(3. 6% vs. 2. 4%),(13. 3% vs. 9. 9%) and(9. 5% vs. 5. 4%)]. Except for cough, cough with cold, cough without cold, the prevalence of respiratory diseases and symp-toms in A area were significantly higher than those in B area ( P <0 . 05 ) . Logistic regression analysis showed the prevalence of persistent cough, phlegm without cold, asthma in A area were significantly higher than those in B area ( P<0 . 05 ) . Conclusion:Respiratory diseases and symptoms among school-age children were closely associated with the level of air pollution.

Objective To explore the effect of carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O3) in the air on the myocardial infarction mortality in Ningbo,Zhejiang province,from 2011 to 2015.Methods The data of daily air quality surveillance and the causes of deaths in Ningbo from January 1,2011 to December 31,2015 were collected and the time series study using a generalized additive model was conducted to evaluate the relationship between the mortality of myocardial infarction and the air pollutants after adjustment for the long-term trend of death,weather conditions,"days of the week" and other confounding factors.Results The daily average concentrations of CO and O3 in Ningbo during 2011-2015 were 0.90 (0.02-3.31) mg/m3 and 82.78 (4-236) μg/m3,respectively.A total of 5 388 myocardial infarction deaths occurred,with a daily average of 3 deaths.In single-pollutant model,an increase of 0.1 mg/m3 in average concentration of CO could increase the risk of myocardial infarction mortality by 1.06％ (95％ CI:0.29％-1.93％) in general population,and by 1.26％ (95％ CI:0.28％-2.24％) in aged people aged ≥65 years in lagged 6 days,but the influence was not significant in people aged ＜65 years.The influence had no significant difference in males,but it increased the risk of myocardial infarction mortality by 1.77％ in females (95％ CI:0.44％-3.13％).In multipollutant model,CO did remain robust after adjusting for other co-pollutants.Whereas the effect of O3 had no significant influence.Conclusion These findings suggested that the increased risk of daily myocardial infarction mortality was associated with the increase of CO concentration,but no such association was found for O3 in Ningbo.

It is a challenge to determine the cause of death in cases caused by both injury and disease in forensic pathology examinations.Here,we retrospectively analyzed 140 such cases enrolled in the Sun Yat-sen University Forensic Identification Center from 2013 to 2021.It was found that the cases caused by both injury and disease accounted for 2.89%of the total number of cases during the same period.The male-to-female ratio was 5.09.Cardiovascular disease accounted for 71.43%of the death-leading diseases,and coronary heart disease accounted for 49.29%.Among the three types of injury and disease relationship,the proportion of disease-based and injury-assisted cases accounted for more than half(65.86%),and the proportion of injury and disease with the same effect cases was the least(12.14%).Medical treatment was involved in as more as 82.86%of the cases.Re-identification were carried out in 10.71%of the cases,53.33%of which were with a≤24-hour-survival time,higher than the proportion(20.80%)of this survival time in initial identification cases(x2 = 13.84,P = 0.000 2).This study revealed the epidemiological characteristics of cases caused by both injury and disease,and supplied useful data for improving the level of forensic identification in such cases.

Objective:To investigate personal exposures to nitrogen oxides(NOX)and nitrogen di-oxide(NO2)and the influence of baseline personal characteristics,living environment and daily activity patterns of the participants on the exposures among adults over 35 in Tianjin and Shanghai.Methods:In this panel study,91 healthy nonsmoking adults aged over 35 from Tianjin and Shanghai participated in our study.The study was conducted in summer and winter.The participants were followed for three times with an interval of at least two weeks.Only participants in Shanghai were followed once in winter because of the COVID-19 pandemic.Twenty-seven participants completed follow-up visits in both seasons.We measured their 24 h personal exposures to NOX and NO2and collected their baseline and time-activity in-formation through questionnaire/diary.The linear mixed model was used to analyze the associations be-tween potential influencing factors and personal NOX and NO2 exposure levels.Results:There were 349 follow-up visits with valid 24 h personal NO2 and NOX exposure measurements in the two cities.The ave-rage 24 h personal exposures to NO2 and NOX(volume fraction)in Tianjin participants were 18.0 x 10-9 and 26.2 × 10-9 in summer,and 31.0 x 10-9 and 54.9 x 10-9in winter,respectively;and the average 24 h personal exposures to NO2 and NOX in Shanghai participants were 38.7 x 10-9and 100.0x10-9in summer,and 45.5 x10-9 and 139.2 x 10-9 in winter,respectively.The results of univariate regression analysis showed that their personal NOX exposure levels were significantly associated with city,season,gender,average daily cooking times,and ambient NO2 concentrations measured at fixed-site monitoring stations.In addition to the above factors,the personal NOX exposure levels were also significantly associ-ated with educational level and the personal NO2 exposure levels were also significantly associated with passive smoking,average daily home time,cooking energy type,residential distance from main traffic road,and use of kitchen ventilators.Multivariate regression analysis showed that the personal exposure levels of NO2 and NOX were significantly lower in Tianjin than that in Shanghai,were significantly lower in summer than that in winter,and were significantly and positively associated with ambient NO2 concen-trations measured at fixed-site monitoring stations.In addition,personal NOX exposure levels were signifi-cantly lower in females than in males,and personal NO2 exposure levels were significantly positively asso-ciated with average daily cooking times and significantly inversely associated with average daily home time.For every interquartile range(IQR)increase(12.7 × 10-9)in ambient NO2,the personal NO2 exposure levels increased by 27.5％(95％CI:17.0％-38.9％),and personal NOX exposure levels in-creased by 16.1％(95％CI:7.1％-25.8％).Conclusion:Season,city and ambient NO2 concentra-tions are significant influencing factors of personal exposure levels of NO2and NOX At the same time,the personal exposures levels of NO2 are also affected by lifestyle factors.Our study provides scientific evi-dence for making precise air pollution control decisions and reducing the exposure levels of NOX in the population.

Humans ; Air Pollutants ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; Polysomnography ; Sleep ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive

ObjectiveTo clearly identify the difference between rescue injuries and agonal injuries and to avoid duplicate identifications and misidentifications. MethodsBased on the forensic pathological data of 5 923 cases of death cause identification from 2013 to 2022 in Sun Yat-sen University Forensic Identification Center and Guangzhou Tianhe District Branch of Guangzhou Public Security Bureau， this study retrospectively studied the characteristics of rescue injuries and agonal injuries seen in cause of death identification and their influence on cause of death identification. ResultsAmong all the 5 923 cases， 640 cases were found to have rescue injuries or agonal injuries， and 624 cases received treatment， of which 609 cases were found to have rescue injuries （97.60%）， 44 cases were found to have agonal injuries， and 13 cases were found to have both types of injuries. Among the 640 cases， 441 were male and 199 were female. The age of death was discontinuously distributed from 0 to 95 years old. The leading cause of death was disease， followed by mechanical injury and asphyxia. The main manifestations of rescue injuries were rib and sternum fractures， soft tissue injuries in the prechest area or face， and pericardial rupture. The most common injuries in agonal stage were falling after unconsciousness， inhalation of foreign body in respiratory tract or multiple violent injuries. Among the 640 cases， 19 cases were repeatedly identified， including 15 cases of rescue injuries， 6 cases of agonal injuries， and 2 cases of both types of injuries. Compared with the cases where neither type of injuries was detected， the repeated identification rate of treatment injuries and agonal injuries was significantly increased （χ²=4.04， P=0.044； χ²=43.49， P<0.001）. Among the 640 cases， 11 cases （1.72%） were misidentified as the initial injuries in the first identification， and 13 cases had combined rescue injuries or agonal injuries that were involved in death. ConclusionsBy elucidating the epidemiological characteristics of the two types of injuries， this study proved that the two types of injuries were associated with higher rates of repeated identification and misidentification， which provided a reference for reducing repeated identification and misidentification and improving the accuracy of cause of death identification.