Assessment to China's Recent Emission Pattern Shifts

Abstract Energy and emission data are crucial to climate change research and mitigation efforts. The accuracy of energy statistics is essential for mitigation strategies and evaluating the performance of low carbon energy transition efforts. This study provides the most up‐to‐date emission inventories for China and its provinces for 2018 and 2019. We also update the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission inventories of China and 30 provinces since 2012 based on the newly revised energy statistics. The inventories are compiled in a combined accounting approach of scope 1 (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change territorial emissions from 17 types of fossil fuel combustion and cement production by 47 socioeconomic sectors) and scope 2 (emissions from purchased electricity and heat consumption). The most recent energy revision led to an increase in reported national CO2 emissions by an average of 0.3% from 2014 to 2017. The results show that data revisions raised China's carbon intensity mitigation baseline (in 2005) by 5.1%–10.8% and thus made it more challenging to fulfill the mitigation pledges. However, the 2020 carbon intensity mitigation target was achieved ahead of schedule in 2018. A preliminary estimate of China's national emissions for 2020 shows that the COVID‐19 pandemic and lockdown was not able to offset China's annual increase in CO2 emissions. These emissions inventories provide an improved evidence base for China's policies toward net‐zero emissions

Trends in energy and nutrient content of menu items served by large UK chain restaurants from 2018 to 2020: an observational study

Funder: Gates Cambridge Trust; FundRef: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100005370Funder: Public Health Research Programme; FundRef: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001921Funder: Centre for Diet and Activity Research; FundRef: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100011032Funder: Wellcome Trust; FundRef: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010269Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the change in energy and nutrient content of menu items sold in large UK chain restaurants (e.g., fast-food, full-service) from 2018 to 2020. Design: Observational study Setting: Energy and nutritional information of menu items served by 29 large UK chain restaurants that consistently provided this information online in all three years. Data were collected in 2018 (March – April), 2019 (April), and 2020 (October – November) from restaurant websites. Primary and secondary outcome measures: The per-item energy and nutrient (saturated fat, sugar, and salt) changes in all items available on menus (“all menu items”) and recurring items that were consistently available on menus in all three years (“core menu items”). Results: Our study included 7,770, 9,213, and 6,928 menu items from 29 chain restaurants in 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively. Our results showed that sugar content declined from 2018 to 2020 among all menu items (per-item: -0.43g/year, 95%CI= -0.66, -0.21). This reduction in sugar was evident in beverages, sandwiches and desserts. Among core menu items (N=1,855), sugar content reduced significantly from 2018 to 2020 (per-item: -0.31g/year, 95%CI= -0.45, -0.17), especially in beverages. Energy, salt, and saturated fat content in menu items remained constant overall, in both all menu items and core menu items. Fewer food categories had significant changes in sugar, salt, and saturated fat content among core menu items, compared to all menu items. Conclusions: From 2018 to 2020, sugar content declined in restaurant menu items, which may reflect a response to the Sugar Reduction Strategy and the effects of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy. In contrast, there was little change in other nutrients. Future policies addressing the overall nutritional quality of restaurant foods, rather than single nutrients, may help the restaurant sector move towards offering healthier foods.This work was supported by the Medical Research Council (grant number MC_UU_00006/7) and the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), a UKCRC funded Centre of Public Health Research Excellence. Funding for CEDAR from Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, and Wellcome Trust is gratefully acknowledged. YH is supported through a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. DT is supported by a PhD studentship awarded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), School for Public Health Research. TB and JA are supported by the CEDAR. No funders had any role in the study design; collection, analysis and interpretation of data; the writing of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication

The impact of parental overprotection on the emotions and behaviors of pediatric hematologic cancer patients: a multicenter cross-sectional study

BackgroundParental overprotection may have an impact on children’s emotional and behavioral problems (EBPs). As pediatric hematologic cancer patients have compromised immune systems, parents of such children often worry excessively, interfering with their daily lives. Therefore, avoiding overprotection is crucial for the overall physical and mental health of pediatric hematologic cancer patients.AimsThe aim of this study was to examine the current status of EBPs in pediatric hematologic cancer patients and analyze their associated risk factors.DesignThis work was a multicenter cross-sectional observational and correlational study. We collected data anonymously through parental questionnaires from three pediatric hematologic oncology hospitals in China. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, the Parental Overprotection Measure (POM) scale, and a general information survey designed by the research team were employed to assess children’s EBPs, the degree of parental overprotection, as well as basic demographic and disease-related information. Chi-square tests and generalized linear mixed-effects regression analysis were used to analyze the factors influencing EBPs among the pediatric hematologic cancer patients.Setting and participantsUsing a convenience sampling method, a total of 202 participants’ parents were selected. All participants were invited to complete the questionnaire through one-on-one guidance.ResultsEmotional symptoms accounted for the highest proportion of abnormal EBPs in children (27.72%), followed by peer problems (26.24%), prosocial behavior (25.74%), behavioral problems (14.36%), and total difficulties (13.86%). A minority of children had abnormal hyperactivity scores (4.95%). The results of a generalized linear mixed regression analysis showed that age, duration of illness, and parental overprotection were significant factors influencing abnormal EBPs in children (p < 0.05). A POM score threshold of 37 exhibited good sensitivity (74%) and specificity (90%) in predicting abnormal EBPs in children.ConclusionPediatric hematologic cancer patients under excessive parental protection are more prone to experiencing EBPs. Healthcare professionals should guide parents to reduce this excessive protection, thus mitigating the occurrence of EBPs in children

Changes in the number of new takeaway food outlets associated with adoption of management zones around schools: A natural experimental evaluation in England

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/By the end of 2017, 35 local authorities (LAs) across England had adopted takeaway management zones (or “exclusion zones”) around schools as a means to curb proliferation of new takeaways. In this nationwide, natural experimental study, we evaluated the impact of management zones on takeaway retail, including unintended displacement of takeaways to areas immediately beyond management zones, and impacts on chain fast-food outlets. We used uncontrolled interrupted time series analyses to estimate changes from up to six years pre- and post-adoption of takeaway management zones around schools. We evaluated three outcomes: mean number of new takeaways within management zones (and by three identified sub-types: full management, town centre exempt and time management zones); mean number on the periphery of management zones (i.e. within an additional 100 m of the edge of zones); and presence of new chain fast-food outlets within management zones. For 26 LAs, we observed an overall decrease in the number of new takeaways opening within management zones. Six years post-intervention, we observed 0.83 (95% CI -0.30, −1.03) fewer new outlets opening per LA than would have been expected in absence of the intervention, equivalent to an 81.0% (95% CI -29.1, −100) reduction in the number of new outlets. Cumulatively, 12 (54%) fewer new takeaways opened than would have been expected over the six-year post-intervention period. When stratified by policy type, effects were most prominent for full management zones and town centre exempt zones. Estimates of intervention effects on numbers of new takeaways on the periphery of management zones, and on the presence of new chain fast-food outlets within management zones, did not meet statistical significance. Our findings suggest that management zone policies were able to demonstrably curb the proliferation of new takeaways. Modelling studies are required to measure the possible population health impacts associated with this change.Peer reviewe

Biogenic Synthesis and Spatial Distribution of Endogenous Phytohormones and Ginsenosides Provide Insights on Their Intrinsic Relevance in Panax ginseng

Ginseng, the root and rhizome of Panax ginseng C. A. Mey., is a well-known and valuable traditional Chinese medicine. The pharmacological activities of ginseng are mainly attributed to the presence of ginsenosides, which are considered to be critical biomarkers for evaluating ginseng quality. The biosynthesis of triterpenes, which serve defensive functions in plants, is regulated by endogenous phytohormones that play key roles in growth and defense of plant populations. However, the role of major hormones that are closely related to secondary metabolism pathways in P. ginseng is poorly understood. To gain insight into their potential correlation, we performed a spatial synthesis analysis and studied the distribution of endogenous phytohormones and ginsenosides in different tissue regions of the entire P. ginseng plant. Gibberellins are growth hormones that accumulate in the fiber root. In contrast, abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA), and jasmonic acid (JA), which are considered stress hormones, were predominantly found in the leaf and leaf peduncle. We observed a tissue-specific distribution of phytohormones consistent with the expression of genes involved in hormone biosynthesis that influenced ginsenoside synthesis and distribution. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of different endogenous phytohormones on triterpene metabolites in ginseng innate immunity

Advancing measures of the out-of-home food environment: a big data approach

The food environment is considered a contributing factor to unhealthy diets. With out-of-home food consumption increasing globally, there is a growing interest in understanding the out-of-home food environment and its contribution to individual dietary behaviours. As well as the type and location of out-of-home food outlets (e.g., restaurants, takeaways, and cafés), the food choices available within these outlets also constitute an important dimension of the out-of-home food environment. However, our understanding of this dimension remains limited, in part due to a lack of data. This lack of data extends to both the healthiness of individual items sold (i.e., whether an item is "healthy"), and the overall healthiness of menus as a whole (i.e., whether an outlet is "healthy"). The aim of my thesis is to bridge this gap and advance the understanding of the out-of-home food environment by harnessing publicly available big data. In this thesis, I used web scraping to harvest publicly available big data and established two databases: MenuTracker and TakeawayTracker. Using these two databases, I quantified the out-of-home consumer nutrition environment —a dimension of the food environment that encapsulates what consumers encounter within food outlets—at scale and in real time. The first database, MenuTracker, captures nutrient composition data for foods served by large chain restaurants every quarter. It enables researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to understand the nutritional landscape of food served by large chain restaurants in the UK. In Chapter 2, I described the detailed methodology for developing this database, which involved automated data collection that saved 500 hours of manual work for each data collection wave. Using this database, in Chapter 3, I compared the nutritional landscape of restaurant foods in the United Kingdom (UK) vs the United States (US). The results suggest that UK menu items were healthier, as judged by their energy, fat, saturated fat, and sugar content, but 95% of all items were high in at least one of these measures in both countries. In Chapter 4, I further examined longitudinal trends in nutritional composition of out-of-home foods in the UK using MenuTracker from 2018 to 2020. While the sugar content of restaurant foods declined over time, levels of other nutrients remained unchanged. The unique finding for sugar may be attributed to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), which was implemented in the UK in 2018. The second database, TakeawayTracker, captures menus of outlets on the UK's leading online delivery platform *JustEat*. In Chapter 5, I used this database and developed a novel deep learning model to characterise the menu healthiness of all out-of-home food outlets in the UK. The findings described in this chapter reveal that in more deprived areas in the UK, there are more out-of-home food outlets, and these tend to be less healthy. By linking these data with information on individuals, in Chapter 6, I investigated associations between exposure to the out-of-home food environment and both dietary behaviour and quality. Findings suggest that the availability of out-of-home food outlets, regardless of their menu healthiness, is the only aspect of the out-of-home food environment studied that is associated with dietary behaviour. There are possible policy implications from the findings of my thesis. First, there are opportunities for policy regulation in the out-of-home food sector, as my findings show that out-of-home foods are largely unhealthy. Second, mandatory policies, especially fiscal policies, may prove to be more effective than voluntary approaches. Third, policy actions are needed to address the unhealthy out-of-home food environment, especially in more deprived areas. Lastly, policies designed to change physical access to outlets ("venue"), rather than just food offerings within outlets ("menu"), could be more effective in promoting healthy diets. In summary, my thesis highlights the need for effective interventions in the out-of-home food environment, while showcasing the untapped potential of the combination of big data and epidemiological principles in dietary public health research.Gates Cambridge Scholarship MRC(MC_UU_00006/7

Census Tract Food Tweets and Chronic Disease Outcomes in the U.S., 2015–2018

There is a growing recognition of social media data as being useful for understanding local area patterns. In this study, we sought to utilize geotagged tweets—specifically, the frequency and type of food mentions—to understand the neighborhood food environment and the social modeling of food behavior. Additionally, we examined associations between aggregated food-related tweet characteristics and prevalent chronic health outcomes at the census tract level. We used a Twitter streaming application programming interface (API) to continuously collect ~1% random sample of public tweets in the United States. A total of 4,785,104 geotagged food tweets from 71,844 census tracts were collected from April 2015 to May 2018. We obtained census tract chronic disease outcomes from the CDC 500 Cities Project. We investigated associations between Twitter-derived food variables and chronic outcomes (obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure) using the median regression. Census tracts with higher average calories per tweet, less frequent healthy food mentions, and a higher percentage of food tweets about fast food had higher obesity and hypertension prevalence. Twitter-derived food variables were not predictive of diabetes prevalence. Food-related tweets can be leveraged to help characterize the neighborhood social and food environment, which in turn are linked with community levels of obesity and hypertension

Sustainable Practicalities towards Good Governance in Fish Townships and Villages by Ethics-Based Approach

As humanity’s moral failure leads to wild aquatic resources decline, habitat destruction and community tension, an ethically sound path towards good governance is increasingly needed globally. To epitomize sustainable paradigm shifts of grassroots practicalities in the fish sector, an ethical governance framework is initially conceptualized with a meta-governance infrastructure and a value-based decision-making mechanism. The ethical approach is then contextualized by using fish-specific evidence and outlining evolution of participatory fisheries and aquaculture management in rural China as a case study. The empirical investigation of socio-ecological justice manifested in social empowerment, ethical conduct and ecological resilience reveals that in China: fisheries and aquaculture governance models have been transforming from hierarchical governance to integrated governance combining hierarchy, market and community; participatory ethics are embedded in civil organizations upgraded from fishery association, offices, leagues to societies and cooperatives, indicating a multi-stakeholder governance mechanism steered by the government as meta-governor; villagers’ committees play a critical intermediary role in extending township governance and promoting autonomy of fishermen (farmers); local knowledge and traditional code of conduct regulates fish activities of fishermen (farmers) ready for community cooperation and mutual assistance; fish communities adopt socio-ecological measures to ensure property rights to fish (farm) and conserve aquatic resources. The current study aims to provide value reference in leveraging justified policy tools while promoting legitimacy of fish grassroots governance, in hope of contributing to a greener future of fisheries and aquaculture worldwide

Ecological network analysis for an industrial solid waste metabolism system

Faced with an increasing amount of industrial solid waste (ISW) in the process of rapid industrialization, it is indispensable to carry out ISW metabolism study to realize source and waste reduction. In this study, a new composite waste input-output (WIO) model is developed to examine ISW production and production relationships among different sectors. In particular, the extended methods of network control analysis and network utility analysis are used in the ecological network analysis under two ISW scenarios (i.e. common industrial solid waste (CISW) and hazardous waste (HW) scenarios). Furthermore, comprehensive utilization analysis is first developed to evaluate the ISW utilization level and to guide the planning of sectors with large proportion of ISW production. A case study of Guangdong, China shows that indirect flow analysis can be used to understand the internal ISW metabolism structure. The mining sectors produce a large amount of direct ISW and perform a low level of comprehensive utilization, but they have mutualism relationships with other sectors. The energy transformation (EH) sector in the CISW system has high direct generation intensity and plays as a main controller. The situation of paper manufacturing (MP) sector in HW system is similar to that of EH. Therefore, it is expected that the results of this study will provide scientific foundations for these sectors to formulate future ISW reduction policies