Effect of Smoking on Lung Function Decline in a Retrospective Study of a Health Examination Population in Chinese Males

Objective:China has established a goal of reducing adult smoking prevalence from 27.7% to 20% by 2030. Understanding the possible ongoing impairment in lung function in smokers, is critically important to encourage the populations to change their smoking behavior.MethodsA total of 14,273 males joined the health examination at Huadong Sanatorium from Jan 2012 to Dec 2019 were included. In cross-sectional analysis, we used multiple linear regression to evaluate the association between baseline lung function and smoking status. Then, 3,558 males who received ≥2 spirometry exams were analyzed in longitudinal study. Annual lung function decline was compared using mixed linear models adjusted for confounders.ResultsIn cross-sectional analysis, compared with never-smokers, decreases of −133.56 mL (95% CI: −167.27, −99.85) and −51.44 mL (−69.62, −33.26) in FEV1, −1.48% (−1.94, −1.02) and −1.29% (−1.53, −1.04) in FEV1/FVC were observed in former and current smokers. In longitudinal analysis, significant declines were observed in FEV1 [5.04 (2.30, 7.78) mL] and FEV1/FVC [0.09 (0.05, 0.13) %] in current smokers but not observed in former smokers after adjustment. Participants with long duration of smoking cessation had decelerate lung function than short duration. The annual decline rate of current smokers with high smoking intensity (≥30 cigarettes per day) was 13.80 and 14.17 times greater than that of never-smokers in FEV1 and FVC. Thus, early smoking cessation can slow down lung function decline trend for current smokers.ConclusionsThe harms of current smoking on lung function emphasize the necessity of smoking cessation, especially for those with comorbidities

Comparison of Ion-Proton Differential Speed between ICMEs and Solar Wind near 1 au

The elemental abundance of ICMEs and solar wind near 1 au is often adopted to represent the abundance in the corresponding coronal sources. However, the absolute abundance of heavy ions (relative to hydrogen) near 1 au might be different from the coronal abundance due to the ion-proton differential speed ($V_{ip}$). To illustrate the $V_{ip}$ characteristics and explore whether it influences the absolute abundance analysis for ICMEs and solar wind, we perform a statistical study on the $V_{ip}$ for He$^{2+}$, C$^{5+}$, O$^{6+}$, and Fe$^{10+}$ in both ICMEs and solar wind based on measurements of Advanced Composition Explorer. The results show that the $V_{ip}$ is negligible within ICMEs and slow solar wind ($<$ 400 km s$^{-1}$), while obvious in the intermediate (400 -- 600 km s$^{-1}$) and fast wind ($>$ 600 km s$^{-1}$). Previous studies showed that the $V_{ip}$ in ICMEs keeps negligible during propagation from 0.3 to 5 au, but in solar wind it increases with the decreasing heliocentric distance. Therefore, it might be questionable to infer the absolute abundance of coronal sources through in-situ abundance near 1 au for solar wind. Fortunately, the ion-oxygen (O$^{6+}$) differential speed ($V_{io}$) is negligible for He$^{2+}$, C$^{5+}$, and Fe$^{10+}$ within both ICMEs and solar wind, and previous studies suggested that the $V_{io}$ does not vary significantly with the heliocentric distance. This indicates that various heavy ions always flow at the same bulk speed and their relative abundance (relative to oxygen) near 1 au can represent the coronal abundance for both ICMEs and solar wind.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Differences in lower extremity kinematics and kinetics during a side-cutting task in patients with and without chronic ankle instability

BackgroundPatients with chronic ankle instability (CAI) have demonstrated altered hip and knee movement strategies during walking and running, but these movement modalities do not involve changes in speed and direction, making it difficult to simulate the conditions of real sports, whereas side-cutting task can provide CAI patients with a more realistic athletic challenge. However, there is limited literature examining the kinematic and kinetic differences in the hip, knee, and ankle joints of CAI patients during the side-cutting task.ObjectiveTo assess differences in lower extremity joint kinematics and kinetics during the side-cutting task in individuals with and without CAI.DesignCross-sectional study.Participants48 males, 24 in each of the CAI group and healthy control group; 40 females, 20 in each of the CAI group and healthy control group.MethodsLower extremity three-dimensional kinematic and kinetics data were evaluated by using a three-dimensional motion analysis system during the initial contact (IC) and toe off (TO) while side-cutting.ResultsCompared with healthy controls, male patients with CAI exhibited greater hip flexion and external rotation angles, knee internal rotation angles, smaller knee flexion angles and ankle inversion angles, greater hip external rotation moments, and greater knee abduction moments; female patients with CAI exhibited smaller hip and knee flexion angles, greater hip external rotation angles, larger ankle inversion angles and internal rotation angles, smaller hip external rotation moments, and greater knee abduction moments.ConclusionOur findings indicate that patients with CAI exhibit altered lower limb joint kinematics and kinetics during side-cutting task, with significant sex-specific differences. These movement pattern changes involve proximal joint compensation to stabilize the unstable distal ankle joint; however, these compensatory changes are not always favorable. The greater hip external rotation moment and greater knee internal rotation angle demonstrated by male CAI patients, the smaller hip flexion angle and greater ankle internal rotation angle demonstrated by female CAI patients, and the smaller knee flexion angle and greater knee abduction moment common to both sexes may impair the lower limb's ability to effectively absorb and dissipate ground reaction forces, potentially elevating the risk of lower extremity injuries

Land Inequality and Its Influencing Factors in Rural China in Modern Times: A Systematic Review

Land inequality is a global and historic issue. There is a problem of unequal distribution of land ownership in modern China; research results on this topic are extensive, but the conclusions are quite different or even completely opposite. This study systematically reviewed the research results obtained for land inequality in modern China and performed an international comparison. The results show that the debate on the estimation of land inequality in modern China has existed for a long time. The overall estimation of land inequality has been repeatedly revised, and many subdivision estimates show great regional variability. The application of the Gini coefficient and other methods can address the drawbacks of traditional methods. A change trend toward equality was found to be more likely in the late modern period. The majority of studies support the notion that debt burden, power, and strength exacerbated land inequality in modern China, whereas the inheritance system with equal sharing, revolution, and reform reduced the land inequality. However, the impact of disasters and commercialization remains controversial. Compared with relevant international studies, the study on land inequality in modern China focused on estimations with unique interpretation perspectives, but there are limitations in terms of the research methods used.</jats:p

Land Inequality and Its Influencing Factors in Rural China in Modern Times: A Systematic Review

Land inequality is a global and historic issue. There is a problem of unequal distribution of land ownership in modern China; research results on this topic are extensive, but the conclusions are quite different or even completely opposite. This study systematically reviewed the research results obtained for land inequality in modern China and performed an international comparison. The results show that the debate on the estimation of land inequality in modern China has existed for a long time. The overall estimation of land inequality has been repeatedly revised, and many subdivision estimates show great regional variability. The application of the Gini coefficient and other methods can address the drawbacks of traditional methods. A change trend toward equality was found to be more likely in the late modern period. The majority of studies support the notion that debt burden, power, and strength exacerbated land inequality in modern China, whereas the inheritance system with equal sharing, revolution, and reform reduced the land inequality. However, the impact of disasters and commercialization remains controversial. Compared with relevant international studies, the study on land inequality in modern China focused on estimations with unique interpretation perspectives, but there are limitations in terms of the research methods used

Research on the long tail mechanism of digital finance alleviating the relative poverty of rural households.

Digital finance provides a long-tail mechanism for alleviating relative poverty caused by unequal opportunities and rights. According to the inference of an improved Cobb-Douglas production function and Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans two-stage household consumption model, the long-tail mechanism for digital finance to alleviate the relative poverty of farmers includes productive investment mechanism, credit mechanism, financial asset allocation and entrepreneurial mechanism. An empirical analysis of 11,519 rural households across China based on CHFS2019 data shows that digital finance can significantly and steadily alleviate relative poverty by improving credit availability and promoting household entrepreneurship, while its effect on increasing productive investment opportunities and optimizing financial asset allocation is less certain. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to improve the "blood making" long tail mechanism of digital finance for farmers' credit and innovation and entrepreneurship, and at the same time guide the digital finance to empower the development of rural industries to increase farmers' productive investment opportunities, cultivate endogenous growth momentum, and improve the wealth allocation function of rural digital financial market

Land Inequality and Its Influencing Factors in Rural China in Modern Times: A Systematic Review

Land inequality is a global and historic issue. There is a problem of unequal distribution of land ownership in modern China; research results on this topic are extensive, but the conclusions are quite different or even completely opposite. This study systematically reviewed the research results obtained for land inequality in modern China and performed an international comparison. The results show that the debate on the estimation of land inequality in modern China has existed for a long time. The overall estimation of land inequality has been repeatedly revised, and many subdivision estimates show great regional variability. The application of the Gini coefficient and other methods can address the drawbacks of traditional methods. A change trend toward equality was found to be more likely in the late modern period. The majority of studies support the notion that debt burden, power, and strength exacerbated land inequality in modern China, whereas the inheritance system with equal sharing, revolution, and reform reduced the land inequality. However, the impact of disasters and commercialization remains controversial. Compared with relevant international studies, the study on land inequality in modern China focused on estimations with unique interpretation perspectives, but there are limitations in terms of the research methods used