Spatial inequity in access to healthcare facilities at a county level in a developing country: a case study of Deqing County, Zhejiang, China

Background The inequities in healthcare services between regions, urban and rural, age groups and diverse income groups have been growing rapidly in China. Equal access to basic medical and healthcare services has been recognized as “a basic right of the people” by Chinese government. Spatial accessibility to healthcare facilities has received huge attention in Chinese case studies but been less studied particularly at a county level due to limited availability of high-resolution spatial data. This study is focused on measuring spatial accessibility to healthcare facilities in Deqing County. The spatial inequity between the urban (town) and rural is assessed and three scenarios are designed and built to examine which scenario is instrumental for better reducing the spatial inequity. Methods This study utilizes highway network data, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), location of hospitals and clinics, 2010 census data at the finest level – village committee, residential building footprint and building height. Areal weighting method is used to disaggregate population data from village committee level to residential building cell level. Least cost path analysis is applied to calculate the travel time from each building cell to its closest healthcare facility. Then an integral accessibility will be calculated through weighting the travel time to the closest facility between three levels. The spatial inequity in healthcare accessibility between the town and rural areas is examined based on the coverages of areas and populations. The same method is used to compare three scenarios aimed at reducing such spatial inequity – relocation of hospitals, updates of weighting values, and the combination of both. Results 50.03 % of residents can reach a county hospital within 15 min by driving, 95.77 % and 100 % within 30 and 60 min respectively. 55.14 % of residents can reach a town hospital within 5 min, 98.04 % and 100 % within 15 and 30 min respectively. 57.86 % of residential building areas can reach a village clinic within 5 min, 92.65 % and 99.22 % within 10 and 15 min. After weighting the travel time between the three-level facilities, 30.87 % of residents can reach a facility within 5 min, 80.46 %% and 99.88 % within 15 and 30 min respectively. Conclusions The healthcare accessibility pattern of Deqing County has exhibited spatial inequity between the town and rural areas, with the best accessibility in the capital of the county and poorest in the West of the county. There is a high negative correlation between population ageing and healthcare accessibility. Allocation of more advanced medical and healthcare equipment and highly skillful doctors and nurses to village clinics will be an efficient means of reducing the spatial inequity and further consolidating the national medical security system. GIS (Geographical Information Systems) methods have proven successful method of providing quantitative evidence for policy analysis although the data sets and methods could be further improved

Evolutionary Landscape of Tea Circular RNAs and Its Contribution to Chilling Tolerance of Tea Plant

Chilling stress threatens the yield and distribution pattern of global crops, including the tea plant (Camellia sinensis), one of the most important cash crops around the world. Circular RNA (circRNA) plays roles in regulating plant growth and biotic/abiotic stress responses. Understanding the evolutionary characteristics of circRNA and its feedbacks to chilling stress in the tea plant will help to elucidate the vital roles of circRNAs. In the current report, we systematically identified 2702 high-confidence circRNAs under chilling stress in the tea plant, and interestingly found that the generation of tea plant circRNAs was associated with the length of their flanking introns. Repetitive sequences annotation and DNA methylation analysis revealed that the longer flanking introns of circRNAs present more repetitive sequences and higher methylation levels, which suggested that repeat-elements-mediated DNA methylation might promote the circRNAs biogenesis in the tea plant. We further detected 250 differentially expressed circRNAs under chilling stress, which were functionally enriched in GO terms related to cold/stress responses. Constructing a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA interaction network discovered 139 differentially expressed circRNAs harboring potential miRNA binding sites, which further identified 14 circRNAs that might contribute to tea plant chilling responses. We further characterized a key circRNA, CSS-circFAB1, which was significantly induced under chilling stress. FISH and silencing experiments revealed that CSS-circFAB1 was potentially involved in chilling tolerance of the tea plant. Our study emphasizes the importance of circRNA and its preliminary role against low-temperature stress, providing new insights for tea plant cold tolerance breeding

Anodic Oxidation Strategy toward Structure-Optimized V2O3 Cathode via Electrolyte Regulation for Zn-Ion Storage

The lack of suitable cathodes is one of the key reasons that impede the development of aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Because of the inherently unsuitable structure and inferior physicochemical properties, the low-valent V2O3 as Zn2+ host could not be effectively discharged. Herein, we demonstrate that V2O3 (theoretical capacity up to 715 mAh g-1) can be utilized as a high-performance cathode material by an in situ anodic oxidation strategy. Through simultaneously regulating the concentration of the electrolyte and the morphology of the V2O3 sample, the ultraefficient anodic oxidation process of the V2O3 cathode was achieved within the first charging, and the mechanism was also schematically investigated. As expected, the V2O3 cathode with a hierarchical microcuboid structure achieved a nearly two-electron transfer process, enabling a high discharging capacity of 625 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 (corresponding to a high energy density of 406 Wh kg-1) and cycling stability (100% capacity retention after 10 000 cycles). This work not only sheds light on the phase transition process of low-valent V2O3 but also exploits a method toward design of advanced cathode materials

Separation of Palladium along with Minor Actinides by <i>iso</i>Bu-BTP/SiO₂‑P Adsorbent from High-Level Liquid Waste

Aiming at the separation of Pd­(II) along with MA­(III) from high-level liquid waste, a porous silica based adsorbent <i>iso</i>Bu-BTP/SiO₂-P was prepared. The adsorption properties of <i>iso</i>Bu-BTP/SiO₂-P toward Pd­(II) were investigated. It was found that with the increase of HNO₃ concentration, Pd­(II) adsorption ability increased initially as HNO₃ concentration increased until 1 M, then remained unchanged as HNO₃ concentration further increased. The adsorption kinetics and isotherm of Pd­(II) onto <i>iso</i>Bu-BTP/SiO₂-P fit well with the pseudo-second-order rate law and Langmuir adsorption model, respectively. The adsorption thermodynamic parameters revealed that the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic. A hot test utilizing <i>iso</i>Bu-BTP/SiO₂-P packed column was conducted and the simultaneous separation of Pd­(II) and MA­(III) was achieved from solution by using 0.01 M HNO₃-0.1 M TU and 0.01 M HNO₃-0.01 M DTPA as eluents, respectively. The Pd­(II) with <i>iso</i>Bu-BTP/SiO₂-P complex was illustrated to be 1:1 type by HRMS, while 1:3 Eu­(III) to <i>iso</i>Bu-BTP complex was found by single-crystal X-ray diffraction

Synergistic deficiency and heterojunction engineering boosted VO2 redox kinetics for aqueous zinc-ion batteries with superior comprehensive performance

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are promising for cost-efficient and safe energy storage but are still hindered by the limiting comprehensive performance of cathode materials. Deficiency and heterojunction engineering are both highly accredited strategies for boosting the intrinsic ion/electron kinetics and structural stability of these materials, however, neither of above-mentioned strategies could achieve a satisfied effect due to their own limitations. Obviously, the fine combination of the advantages of deficiency and heterojunction engineering should be an effective way towards further improvement. As a proof of concept, here, we take VO2 as an example to construct a spongy three-dimensional (3D) VO2 composite with enriched oxygen vacancies and graphene-modified heterointerfaces (Od-VO2-rG). The density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm that oxygen vacancies could effectively modulate the Zn2+ adsorption energy resulting in reversible Zn2+ adsorption/desorption. Meanwhile, the graphene-modified heterointerface enables the rapid electron transfer. Impressively, Od-VO2-rG delivers superior comprehensive performance with high capacity (376 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1), impressive rate capability (116 mAh g−1 at 20 A g−1) and satisfactory cycling stability (88.6% capacity retention after 5000 cycles). This rational design by combining deficiency and heterojunction engineering opens up a method towards advanced electrode materials for superior comprehensive performance

Synergistic nanostructure and heterointerface design propelled ultra-efficient in-situ self-transformation of zinc-ion battery cathodes with favorable kinetics

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd In-situ self-transformation is proved to be an effective strategy to design high-performance cathodes for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs). However, the inferior transformation efficiencies during phase transition limit its further application. Herein, a 3D spongy VO2-graphene (VO2-rG) precursor has been designed for achieving the ultra-efficient in-situ self-transformation process from VO2-rG into multifaceted V2O5·nH2O-graphene composite (VOH-rG). Benefiting from the highly conductive heterointerfaces, rich reaction sites and numerous ions diffusion channels of VO2-rG, almost 100% VO2 nanobelts are converted into VOH during the first charging with few side reactions, indicating a highly efficient transformation kinetics. This strategy enables structural modulation from micro-nano level to molecular level by integrating pre-inserted H2O molecules and constructing 3D porous heterogeneous architecture into the VOH-rG cathode simultaneously, leading to fast and enduring Zn2+ (de)intercalation kinetics. Consequently, the VOH-rG cathode exhibits high capacity of 466 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1, superior rate performance (190 mA h g−1 even at 20 A g−1) and excellent cycling stability with 100% capacity retention over 5000 cycles. Moreover, the assembled VOH-rG//Zn flexible quasi-solid-state batteries also present impressive performance. Such an ultra-efficient in-situ self-transformation strategy would pave a new way to explore promising electrode materials for advanced energy storage

Synergistic nanostructure and heterointerface design propelled ultra-efficient in-situ self-transformation of zinc-ion battery cathodes with favorable kinetics

In-situ self-transformation is proved to be an effective strategy to design high-performance cathodes for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs). However, the inferior transformation efficiencies during phase transition limit its further application. Herein, a 3D spongy VO -graphene (VO -rG) precursor has been designed for achieving the ultra-efficient in-situ self-transformation process from VO -rG into multifaceted V O ·nH O-graphene composite (VOH-rG). Benefiting from the highly conductive heterointerfaces, rich reaction sites and numerous ions diffusion channels of VO -rG, almost 100% VO nanobelts are converted into VOH during the first charging with few side reactions, indicating a highly efficient transformation kinetics. This strategy enables structural modulation from micro-nano level to molecular level by integrating pre-inserted H O molecules and constructing 3D porous heterogeneous architecture into the VOH-rG cathode simultaneously, leading to fast and enduring Zn (de)intercalation kinetics. Consequently, the VOH-rG cathode exhibits high capacity of 466 mA h g at 0.1 A g , superior rate performance (190 mA h g even at 20 A g ) and excellent cycling stability with 100% capacity retention over 5000 cycles. Moreover, the assembled VOH-rG//Zn flexible quasi-solid-state batteries also present impressive performance. Such an ultra-efficient in-situ self-transformation strategy would pave a new way to explore promising electrode materials for advanced energy storage. 2 2 2 2 5 2 2 2 2 2+ −1 −1 −1 −