Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have become one of humankind’s major challenges, as testified by the UN’s Call to Action on Antimicrobial Resistance in 2021. Our knowledge of the underlying processes of antibiotic resistance is steadily improving. Beyond the inappropriate use of antimicrobials in human medicine, other causes have been identified, raising ethical issues and requiring an approach to the problem from a “One Health” perspective. Indeed, it is now clear that the two main issues regarding the subject of antibiotics are their misuse in the global food industry and their method of production, both leading to the emergence and spread of bacterial resistance.

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Advocacy for Responsible Antibiotic Production and Use

Distinct urban-rural gradients of air NO2 and SO2 concentrations in response to emission reductions during 2015-2022 in Beijing, China.

PM2.5 exposure is a major environmental risk factor for the mortality of ischemic heart disease (IHD). This study aimed to analyze trends in IHD mortality attributable to PM2.5 exposure in Jiangsu Province, China, from 1990 to 2019, and their correlation with age, period, and birth cohort. Methods: Data were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease study 2019 (GBD2019). The magnitude and direction of the trends in IHD mortality attributable to PM2.5 exposure were analyzed by Joinpoint regression. The age-period-cohort (APC) model was used to evaluate the cohort and period effect. Results: Age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) of IHD attributable to PM2.5 exposure decreased from 1990 to 2019, with an average annual percentage change (AAPC) of −1.71% (95%CI: −2.02~−1.40), which, due to ambient PM2.5 (APM) exposure and household PM2.5 (HPM) exposure increased with AAPCs of 1.45% (95%CI: 1.18~1.72) and −8.27% (95%CI: −8.84~−7.69), respectively. APC analysis revealed an exponential distribution in age effects on IHD mortality attributable to APM exposure, which rapidly increased in the elderly. The risk for IHD mortality due to HPM exposure showed a decline in the period and cohort effects, which, due to APM, increased in the period and cohort effects. However, favorable period effects were found in the recent decade. The overall net drift values for APM were above zero, and were below zero for HPM. The values for local drift with age both for APM and HPM exposures were initially reduced and then enhanced. Conclusion: The main environmental risk factor for IHD mortality changed from HPM to APM exposure in Jiangsu Province, China. Corresponding health strategies and prevention management should be adopted to reduce ambient air pollution and decrease the effects of APM exposure on IHD mortality.

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Time Trends in Ischemic Heart Disease Mortality Attributable to PM2.5 Exposure in Southeastern China from 1990 to 2019: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis

In this article we mainly focus on the temporal correlation between the past dynamic fluctuations and the future motion of the dynamic variables in the climate system by means of a new temporal correlation function. When the complex climate system is assumed to be in the stationary states, that is, the dynamic effects of the non-stationary states are not considered, the above correlation is weak or even non-existent. Unexpectedly, a good correlation is shown when the dynamic effects of the non-stationary states are taken into account. Subsequently, we analyze the main factors contributing to these results and conclude that the small fluctuations make a major contribution to this. At the same time, we also find that this correlation function is somewhat stable over time scales. Finally, we extend our analysis by using the persistence probabilities. Knowing these is of key importance for the study of climate analysis and prediction. 

The temporal correlation of fluctuation-variation in the non-stationary complex climate system

Improving air quality is an urgent task for the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region in China. In 2018, utilizing 365 days’ daily concentration data of six air pollutants (including PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, CO and O3) at 947 air quality grid monitoring points of 13 cities in the BTH region and controlling the meteorological factors, this paper takes the implementation of the Blue Sky Defense War (BSDW) policy as a quasi-natural experiment to examine the emission reduction effect of the policy in the BTH region by applying the difference-in-difference method. Results show that the policy leads to the significant reduction of the daily average concentration of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, O3 by −1.951 μg/m3, −3.872 μg/m3, −1.902 μg/m3, −7.882 μg/m3 and CO by −0.014 mg/m3, respectively. The results of the robustness test support the aforementioned conclusions. However, this paper finds that the concentration of NO2 increases significantly (1.865 μg/m3). In winter heating seasons, the concentration of SO2, CO and O3 decrease but PM2.5, PM10 and NO2 increase significantly. Besides, resource intensive cities, non-key environmental protection cities and cities in the north of the region have great potential for air pollutant emission reduction. Finally, policy suggestions are recommended; these include setting specific goals at the city level, incorporating more cities into the list of key environmental protection cities, refining the concrete indicators of domestic solid fuel, and encouraging and enforcing clean heating diffusion.

Xuan Yang

Papers

Does the “Blue Sky Defense War Policy” Paint the Sky Blue?—A Case Study of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region, China