Climate change poses a significant threat to public health. Existing studies on the health impacts of climate change focus primarily on chronic and infectious diseases, with limited research on injury. To address this gap, this issue launched a special column titled "Climate change and injuries". Through interdisciplinary integration of atmospheric science and public health, we explored the impact of climate change on injury risk and burden from diverse perspectives. This initiative aims to deepen a comprehensive understanding of the impact of climate change on human health, enhance China's capacity to address climate-related health risks, reduce associated disease burden, and provide scientific evidence for targeted adaptation measures.

Background Previous studies found that high temperature and heatwave increase the risk of traffic injuries. The complex road conditions in Yunnan Province result in frequent traffic accidents. However, there is limited evidence on the correlation between heatwave and traffic injuries in Yunnan Province. Objective To assess the association between heatwave events and traffic injuries, to estimate its disease burden, and to identify relevant sensitive groups. Methods We collected data on traffic injury cases and concurrent meteorological information from four surveillance sites in Yunnan Province, China: Dali, Lufeng, Zhaoyang, and Qilin from May to September each year from 2015 to 2023. Traffic injury cases refer to patients who visited the outpatient or emergency departments of local surveillance hospitals for the first time due to traffic injuries. Meteorological data were derived from the fifth generation atmosphericreanalysis dataset of the global climate provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. A time-stratified case-crossover design combined with distributed lag non-linear model was used to analyze the association between short-term exposure to heatwave and traffic injuries. We also conducted subgroup analyses by sex, age, occupation, injury cause, activity at the time of injury occurrence, and severity of injury. Results A total of 34764 traffic injury surveillance cases were included in the analysis. The risk of traffic injuries occurred during heatwave was 1.13 times (95%CI: 1.07, 1.20) greater than those occurred during non-heatwave, and 2.64% (95%CI: 1.49%, 3.73%) of traffic injuries were attributed to heatwave exposure throughout the study period. The results of stratified analysis showed greater impacts of heatwave on the risk of traffic injuries in female [odds ratio (OR)=1.17, attributable fraction (AF)=3.23%], people aged 15-64 years (OR=1.13, AF=2.68%), farmers/workers (OR=1.22, AF=4.07%), people with non-motor vehicle traffic injuries (OR=1.17, AF=3.24%), people who were driving or riding when injuries occurred (OR=1.12, AF=2.43%), and people with minor injuries (OR=1.18, AF=3.49%) ( P<0.05). Longer duration [excess risk (ER)=0.99%] and greater intensity (ER=4.12%) of heatwave had greater impacts on the risk of traffic injuries (P<0.05). Conclusion Heatwave events are associated with an increased risk of traffic injuries. Female, people aged 15-64, farmers/workers, people with non-motor vehicle traffic injuries, those injured while driving/riding a vehicle, and people with minor injuries are particularly vulnerable. The findings suggest that targeted mitigation and adaptation measures should be taken to address the risk of traffic injuries associated with extreme climate events.

Background Injury poses a serious threat to human health. As global warming continues to intensify, there is an urgent need to explore the impact of temperature changes on injury deaths. However limited research has focused on this issue. Objective To investigate the relationship between daily mean temperature change (Tm) and injury death, as well as to estimate the associated future death burden in Hunan Province. Methods We employed an individual-level, time-stratified case-crossing design to establish a conditional logistic regression model to analyze the exposure-response relationship between daily mean temperature change and injury death in Hunan Province from 2013 to 2018. Consequently, we conducted subgroup analysis of gender, age group, and injury type. Finally, we estimated the excess burden of injury death attributable to temperature changes under a sustainable development path [low emission scenario (SSP1-2.6)], regional competition path [high emission scenario (SSP3-7.0)], or fossil fuel development path [very high emission scenario (SSP5-8.5)]. Results The study collected 155577 injury deaths in Hunan Province. The results indicated that for each 1 ℃ increment in daily mean temperature, the cumulative excess risk (CER) of injury mortality among Hunan residents increased by 0.71% (95%CI: 0.53%, 0.90%). Notably, the CER for intentional injuries (1.06%, 95%CI: 0.51%, 1.61%) was higher than that for unintentional injuries (0.66%, 95%CI: 0.46%, 0.87%). Warmer temperatures were positively associated with CER of mortality due to drowning, falls, transport injuries, assaults, and suicides, while they were negatively associated with mortality due to poisoning. Compared with 2010–2019, for 2090–2099, the excess mortality rate (EMR) due to ambient temperature increase in Hunan Province under the SSP5-8.5 scenario (14.62/100000, 95%CI: 10.81/100000, 18.40/100000) would be higher than that of the SSP3-7.0 scenario (10.28/100000, 95%CI: 7.58/100000, 12.97/100000) and the SSP1-2.6 scenario (3.35/100000, 95%CI: 2.46/100000, 4.23/100000); the EMR would be around 2.5 times among men (20.64/100000, 95%CI: 14.44/100000, 26.8/100000) than that among women (8.33/100000, 95%CI: 3.98/100000, 12.6/100000). Among unintentional injuries, the leading contributors to EMR would be drowning (4.46/100000), falls (3.96/100000), and transport injuries (2.96/100000). And among intentional injuries, the EMR for suicide (2.08/100000) would be higher than that for assault (0.47/100000). Conclusion Climate warming will increase the total burden of injury-related deaths among residents in Hunan Province, especially in the absence of effective mitigation strategies and measures. It is necessary to strengthen the prevention and control of severe injuries closely related to temperature changes, such as drowning, falls, traffic, and suicides injuries, in order to reduce injury deaths associated with climate change.

Background Under the background of global warming, research on association between ambient temperature and risk of injury is needed. Objective To examine the effect of temperature on injury in Bao'an district, Shenzhen and identify the sensitive population, thereby providing a scientific basis for formulating prevention and control strategies and measures of injury. Methods The injury reports from the Injury Surveillance System and the meteorological data of Bao'an District between 2018 to 2022 were collected. The meteorological data were sourced from the fifth generation of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) land reanalysis data. Based on time-stratified case-crossover design, conditional logistic regression combined with distributed lag nonlinear model was used to evaluate the exposure-response association between ambient temperature and injury. The stratified analyses were further conducted by gender, age, and causes of injury. Results A total of 156205 injury cases were collected from the injury surveillance sentinel hospitals in Bao'an District of Shenzhen from 2018 to 2022, and the median of daily average temperature during the same period was 20.0 ℃. The exposure-response curve showed that the risk of injury was positively correlated with temperature. The linearized analysis revealed that each 1°C increase in temperature was associated with a 1.05% (95%CI: 0.68%, 1.42%) rise in injury risk (ER). Notably, the effect was greater in females (ER=1.31%, 95%CI: 0.67%, 1.94%) than males (ER=0.92%, 95%CI: 0.47%, 1.37%). Among age groups, adults ＞60 years faced the highest risk (ER=1.91%, 95%CI: −0.36%, 4.24%). The top three temperature-associated injury risks were sharp instrument injuries (ER=2.19%, 95%CI: 1.16%, 3.22%), animal injuries (ER=1.71%, 95%CI: 0.86%, 2.56%), and blunt injuries (ER=071%, 95%CI: −0.08%, 1.51%). The impact of temperature on unintentional injuries (ER=1.11%, 95%CI: 0.72%, 1.49%) was higher than that on intentional injuries (ER=0.43%, 95%CI: −0.85%, 1.72%). Severe injuries (ER=2.20%, 95%CI: −3.09%, 7.77%) were more affected by temperature than mild injuries (ER=1.00%, 95%CI: 0.58%, 1.43%) and moderate injuries (ER=1.15%, 95%CI: 0.42%, 1.89%). Conclusion The increase in ambient temperature associates with injury occurrence, and the impact of temperature exhibits obvious heterogeneity among different populations, indicating that targeted intervention measures should be taken for different populations and types of injuries.

Climate change is a significant environmental concern in the 21^st century. It can directly and indirectly affect public health, making it a major public health problem. This review focused on the relationship between meteorological factors and health-related behaviors such as physical activity, sleep, dietary behavior, and social contact behavior. The results indicated that meteorological factors such as temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, atmospheric pressure, and rainfall are associated with the four health behaviors. Physical activity levels are negatively associated with temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall. Sleep quality tends to decrease under extreme temperatures and extreme weather events. Dietary behavior is influenced by high and low temperatures, low pressure, and daylight duration, which in turn affects appetite and food intake. Social contact frequency decreases in response to extreme temperatures, increased rainfall, and extreme weather events. However, there are differences in the strength and direction of the associations between meteorological factors and health-related behaviors in various studies. Research on the combined effects of multiple meteorological factors exposure on health-related behaviors is rare, and the mechanisms underlying the associations are unclear. Therefore, there is a need for more multi-center, large-scale studies to explore the biological and behavioral mechanisms behind these associations, which will help clarify the complex effects of meteorological factors on human health behaviors and provide scientific evidence for policy-making, thereby mitigating the negative impact of climate change on public health.

Falls are one of the most common injuries, with a high prevalence and risk of disability, which poses the greatest threat to the health of the elderly. Falls are influenced by a variety of factors, including environmental factors such as slippery pavements, poor meteorological conditions, and inadequate lighting. The Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that climate change has become more frequent and stronger in recent years, which may threat people's health and lives. This review summarized the progress of epidemiological studies on the association between meteorological factors (e.g. temperature, precipitation, frost, and snowfall) and falls, and found that most of the studies focused on the association between temperature and falls, and the results of different studies varied greatly. While the studies on the association between other meteorological factors and falls were relatively few. Moreover, the mechanisms behind the associations were unclear. Therefore, we point out that it is necessary to further conduct large-sample and multi-centre studies to evaluate the effects of exposure to multiple meteorological factors, and further to explore the mechanisms of the associations, which may provide scientific evidence for better response to climate change.

Objective: To explore the associations of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior (SB) among primary and secondary school students and their parents, so as to provide a scientific basis for formulating targeted physical activity promotion strategies for children and adolescents. Methods: From 2021 to 2022, basic information and 24 h movement behaviors of 2 484 pairs of students and their parents were collected from five primary and secondary schools in Haizhu District, Guangzhou City, with a convenient sampling combining with cluster sampling method. Component regression models were constructed to analyze the relationship between parental MVPA, SB and primary and secondary school students MVPA and SB, and a component isochronous substitution model was used to explore the effects of mutual substitution between parental MVPA, residual components (time use components other than SB during the 24 h period), and SB on the behavioral activities of MVPA and SB in primary and secondary school students. Results: Parental MVPA and SB of students in grade 1 to 3 were positively correlated with both students MVPA and SB ( β=0.06, 0.12, P <0.01). The component isochronous substitution model showed that substituting 10 and 20 minutes of MVPA for SB by parents in grade 1 to 3 was associated with an increase in MVPA of students, and substituting 10 and 20 minutes of residual ingredients for SB was associated with a decrease in SB of students, with mean changes of 0.8 (95% CI =0.4-1.2) and 1.4 (95% CI =0.7-2.2) and -1.4 (95% CI =-1.7 to -1.1) and -2.9 (95% CI =-3.4 to -2.3)( P <0.05). No statistically significant associations were observed between parents of students in grades 4 to 6 and 7 to 9 and students physical activity and sedentary behaviour ( P >0.05). Conclusions Parents of students in grades 1 to 3 increases MVPA and decrease SB are beneficial to increase MVPA and decrease SB of students. Parents could promote physical activity among primary and secondary school students, and the intervention gateway should be advanced, with the low grades as the optimal intervention period.

This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of Yindan Pinggan capsules (YDPG) on intrahepatic cholestasis (IHC) through animal experiments, while utilizing network pharmacology and molecular docking techniques to explore its potential mechanisms. Initially, the therapeutic effect of YDPG on an α-naphthylisothiocyanate (ANIT)-induced IHC mouse model was assessed through liver function tests, routine blood tests, and liver pathology analysis. Subsequently, network pharmacology tools were employed to predict the active components, core targets, and signaling pathways of YDPG. Molecular docking technology was employed to verify the binding activity of key active components of YDPG with core targets, followed by protein immunoblotting to validate the key targets. Results showed that YDPG significantly improved liver function abnormalities and hepatocyte damage in IHC mice. Network pharmacology analysis revealed that 94 active components in YDPG were associated with 396 targets for the treatment of IHC, and were significantly enriched in pathways such as the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathway, lipid metabolism, and bile secretion. Molecular docking results showed good binding activity between key active components of YDPG and core targets of the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. Further protein immunoblotting confirmed that YDPG could reduce the phosphorylation levels of PI3K and AKT proteins, core targets of the PI3K-AKT pathway in liver tissue. These findings suggest that YDPG may alleviate biological processes such as oxidative stress and inflammatory responses by regulating the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, thereby improving liver damage in IHC mice and exerting a therapeutic effect on IHC. This experiment has been approved by the Animal Experiment Ethics Committee of Jinan University (ethical approval number: IACUC-20241011-09).

Egg freezing and transfer technology play an important role in addressing the issues of aging and low birthrate. However， current laws adopt a “medical model” that strictly limits this technology to medical purposes.The legal system should shift from a “medical model” to a “social model，” granting women the right to autonomously choose to freeze their eggs for non-medical indications. In conjunction with the implementation of the “social model”， it is necessary to reconstruct the principle of public welfare based on the concept of solidarity， ensuring the accessibility and fairness of technology. Meanwhile， the principle of the best interests of future generations should be prioritized to protect their well-being， and systematic supervision should be improved through the risk-monitoring model. In terms of specific rules， a pre-consultation system should be constructed to guarantee that women are fully informed and have complete self-determination in social egg freezing； the right to know the genetic origins of offspring should be confirmed to ensure that children have the right to access their genetic information； as well as an independent reproductive medicine ethics committee should be established to configure special ethical review rules suitable for egg freezing and transfer， to avoid the risk of technological abuse.

ObjectiveTo explore the mechanism by which the ethanol extract of Epimedium brevicornu （EEBM） intervenes in mesenchymal adipose-derived stem cells （ADSCs） to delay aging in castrated rats. MethodsForty-five 3-month-old SPF female SD rats were ovariectomized and randomly divided into model group， ADSCs treatment group， and ADSCs groups treated with low， medium， and high concentrations of EEBM （1， 50， 100 μg·L^-1）， referred to as the AE low， medium， and high concentration groups， with 9 rats in each group. After tail vein injection of 200 μL of the corresponding stem cell suspension， aging-related indicators including cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor （p21）， tumor suppressor gene （p53）， interleukin-6 （IL-6）， interleukin-8 （IL-8）， superoxide dismutase （SOD）， malondialdehyde （MDA）， B-cell lymphoma-2 （Bcl-2）， Bcl-2-associated X protein （Bax）， cysteine-aspartic acid protease-3 （Caspase-3）， and lipofuscin were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） and Western blot. ResultsCompared with the model group， the IL-6 content in the AE low， medium， and high concentration groups was significantly decreased （P<0.05）. Lipofuscin， MDA， and IL-8 levels in the ADSCs treatment group and AE low， medium， and high concentration groups were significantly reduced （P<0.01）， while SOD content was significantly increased （P<0.05， P<0.01）. Compared with the ADSCs treatment group， lipofuscin and IL-8 levels in the AE low， medium， and high concentration groups were significantly reduced （P<0.05， P<0.01）. The MDA content was significantly decreased in the AE medium concentration group （P<0.01）. Compared with the model group， protein levels of p21， p53， Bax， and Caspase-3 in the ADSCs treatment group and AE low， medium， and high concentration groups were significantly reduced （P<0.05， P<0.01）， while the Bcl-2 protein level was significantly increased （P<0.01）. Compared with the ADSCs treatment group， protein levels of p21， p53， Bax， and Caspase-3 in the AE low， medium， and high concentration groups were significantly reduced （P<0.05， P<0.01）， and the Bcl-2 protein level in the AE low concentration group was significantly increased （P<0.01）. ConclusionThe results of this experiment show that EEBM-treated ADSCs or ADSCs may delay aging in castrated rats by inhibiting cell apoptosis， reducing cell cycle inhibitors and pro-inflammatory factors， enhancing antioxidant capacity， and reducing oxidative reactions. Moreover， EEBM-treated ADSCs demonstrate stronger anti-aging effects than ADSCs alone. This study provides experimental evidence supporting the clinical use of EEBM to intervene in ADSCs and delay aging.