Hong Kong has been embroiled in increasingly violent social unrest since June, 2019. We examined the associated population mental health burden, risk factors, and health-care needs.
In a ...population-based prospective cohort, adult participants aged 18 years or older were assessed at nine timepoints from 2009. Probable depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (score ≥10) and suspected post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by the PTSD Checklist—Civilian Version (score ≥14), plus direct exposure to traumatic events related to the ongoing social unrest. We used multivariable logistic regression to identify factors associated with both outcomes, adjusting for doctor-diagnosed depression or anxiety disorders before the unrest. On the basis of routine service statistics and respondents' intention to seek professional care, we projected the number of additional ambulatory specialist psychiatric visits required.
After the two baseline surveys, we followed up random subsets of 1213–1736 adults at each timepoint. Probable depression was reported by 11·2% (95% CI 9·8–12·7) of participants in 2019, compared with 1·9% (1·6–2·1) during 2009–14 and 6·5% (5·3–7·6) in 2017 after the Occupy Central Movement and before the current unrest. Prevalence of suspected PTSD in 2019 was estimated to be 12·8% (11·2–14·4). Age, sex, educational attainment, or household income were not associated with either outcome, whereas heavy social media use (≥2 h per day) was associated with both. Political attitude or protest participation was not associated with probable depression, but neutrality towards the extradition bill approximately halved the risk of suspected PTSD. Family support mitigated against probable depression. We estimated that the mental health burden identified would translate into roughly an excess 12% service requirement to the public sector queue or equivalent.
We have identified a major mental health burden during the social unrest in Hong Kong, which will require substantial increases in service surge capacity. Health-care and social care professionals should be vigilant in recognising possible mental health sequelae. In a world of increasing unrest, our findings might have implications for service planning to better protect population mental health globally.
Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
A novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) causing severe acute respiratory disease emerged recently in Wuhan, China. Information on reported cases strongly indicates human-to-human spread, and the most recent ...information is increasingly indicative of sustained human-to-human transmission. While the overall severity profile among cases may change as more mild cases are identified, we estimate a risk of fatality among hospitalised cases at 14% (95% confidence interval: 3.9-32%).
Biodiesel is a low-emissions diesel substitute fuel made from renewable resources and waste lipid. The most common way to produce biodiesel is through transesterification, especially alkali-catalyzed ...transesterification. When the raw materials (oils or fats) have a high percentage of free fatty acids or water, the alkali catalyst will react with the free fatty acids to form soaps. The water can hydrolyze the triglycerides into diglycerides and form more free fatty acids. Both of the above reactions are undesirable and reduce the yield of the biodiesel product. In this situation, the acidic materials should be pre-treated to inhibit the saponification reaction. This paper reviews the different approaches of reducing free fatty acids in the raw oil and refinement of crude biodiesel that are adopted in the industry. The main factors affecting the yield of biodiesel, i.e. alcohol quantity, reaction time, reaction temperature and catalyst concentration, are discussed. This paper also described other new processes of biodiesel production. For instance, the Biox co-solvent process converts triglycerides to esters through the selection of inert co-solvents that generates a one-phase oil-rich system. The non-catalytic supercritical methanol process is advantageous in terms of shorter reaction time and lesser purification steps but requires high temperature and pressure. For the in situ biodiesel process, the oilseeds are treated directly with methanol in which the catalyst has been preciously dissolved at ambient temperatures and pressure to perform the transesterification of oils in the oilseeds. This process, however, cannot handle waste cooking oils and animal fats.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The mental health consequences of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, community-wide interventions, and social media use during a pandemic are unclear. The first and most draconian ...interventions have been implemented in Wuhan, China, and these countermeasures have been increasingly deployed by countries around the world.
The aim of this study was to examine risk factors, including the use of social media, for probable anxiety and depression in the community and among health professionals in the epicenter, Wuhan, China.
We conducted an online survey via WeChat, the most widely used social media platform in China, which was administered to 1577 community-based adults and 214 health professionals in Wuhan. Probable anxiety and probable depression were assessed by the validated Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 (cutoff ≥3) and Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (cutoff ≥3), respectively. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine factors associated with probable anxiety and probable depression.
Of the 1577 community-based adults, about one-fifth of respondents reported probable anxiety (n=376, 23.84%, 95% CI 21.8-26.0) and probable depression (n=303, 19.21%, 95% CI 17.3-21.2). Similarly, of the 214 health professionals, about one-fifth of surveyed health professionals reported probable anxiety (n=47, 22.0%, 95% CI 16.6-28.1) or probable depression (n=41, 19.2%, 95% CI 14.1-25.1). Around one-third of community-based adults and health professionals spent ≥2 hours daily on COVID-19 news via social media. Close contact with individuals with COVID-19 and spending ≥2 hours daily on COVID-19 news via social media were associated with probable anxiety and depression in community-based adults. Social support was associated with less probable anxiety and depression in both health professionals and community-based adults.
The internet could be harnessed for telemedicine and restoring daily routines, yet caution is warranted toward spending excessive time searching for COVID-19 news on social media given the infodemic and emotional contagion through online social networks. Online platforms may be used to monitor the toll of the pandemic on mental health.
Self-efficacy has been consistently found to be a protective factor against psychological distress and disorders in the literature. However, little research is done on the moderating effect of ...self-efficacy on depressive symptoms in the context of chronic pain. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine if pain self-efficacy attenuated the direct relationship between pain intensity and depressive symptoms, as well as their indirect relationship through reducing the extent of catastrophizing when feeling pain (moderated mediation). 664 community-dwelling Chinese older adults aged 60-95 years who reported chronic pain for at least three months were recruited from social centers. They completed a battery of questionnaires on chronic pain, pain self-efficacy, catastrophizing, and depressive symptoms in individual face-to-face interviews. Controlling for age, gender, education, self-rated health, number of chronic diseases, pain disability, and pain self-efficacy, pain catastrophizing was found to partially mediate the connection between pain intensity and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the relationship between pain intensity and depressive symptoms was moderated by pain self-efficacy. Self-efficacy was also found to moderate the relationship between pain intensity and catastrophizing and the moderated mediation effect was confirmed using bootstrap analysis. The results suggested that with increasing levels of self-efficacy, pain intensity's direct effect on depressive symptoms and its indirect effect on depressive symptoms via catastrophizing were both reduced in a dose-dependent manner. Our findings suggest that pain self-efficacy is a significant protective factor that contributes to psychological resilience in chronic pain patients by attenuating the relationship of pain intensity to both catastrophizing and depressive symptoms.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
COVID-19 has imposed a very substantial direct threat to the physical health of those infected, although the corollary impact on mental health may be even more burdensome. Here we focus on assessing ...the mental health impact of COVID-19 and of other epidemics in the community. We searched five electronic databases until December 9, 2020, for all peer-reviewed original studies reporting any prevalence or correlates of mental disorders in the general population following novel epidemics in English, Chinese or Portuguese. We synthesised prevalence estimates from probability samples during COVID-19 and past epidemics. The meta-analytical effect size was the prevalence of relevant outcomes, estimated via random-effects model. I
statistics, Doi plots and the LFK index were used to examine heterogeneity and publication bias. This study is pre-registered with PROSPERO, CRD42020179105. We identified 255 eligible studies from 50 countries on: COVID-19 (n = 247 studies), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS; n = 5), Ebola virus disease (n = 2), and 1918 influenza (n = 1). During COVID-19, we estimated the point prevalence for probable anxiety (20.7%, 95% CI 12.9-29.7), probable depression (18.1%, 13.0-23.9), and psychological distress (13.0%, 0-34.1). Correlates for poorer mental health include female sex, lower income, pre-existing medical conditions, perceived risk of infection, exhibiting COVID-19-like symptoms, social media use, financial stress, and loneliness. Public trust in authorities, availability of accurate information, adoption of preventive measures and social support were associated with less morbidity. The mental health consequences of COVID-19 and other epidemics could be comparable to major disasters and armed conflicts. The considerable heterogeneity in our analysis indicates that more random samples are needed. Health-care professionals should be vigilant of the psychological toll of epidemics, including among those who have not been infected.
The hydrogen economy has been identified as an alternative to substitute the non-sustainable fossil fuel based economy. Ongoing research is underway to develop environmentally friendly and economical ...hydrogen production technologies that are essential for the hydrogen economy. One of the promising ways to produce hydrogen is to use aluminum or its alloys to reduce water or hydrocarbons to hydrogen. This paper gives an overview on these aluminum-based hydrogen production methods, their limitations and challenges for commercialization. Also, a newly developed concept for cogeneration of hydrogen and electrical energy is discussed.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
As of 29 February 2020 there were 79,394 confirmed cases and 2,838 deaths from COVID-19 in mainland China. Of these, 48,557 cases and 2,169 deaths occurred in the epicenter, Wuhan. A key public ...health priority during the emergence of a novel pathogen is estimating clinical severity, which requires properly adjusting for the case ascertainment rate and the delay between symptoms onset and death. Using public and published information, we estimate that the overall symptomatic case fatality risk (the probability of dying after developing symptoms) of COVID-19 in Wuhan was 1.4% (0.9-2.1%), which is substantially lower than both the corresponding crude or naïve confirmed case fatality risk (2,169/48,557 = 4.5%) and the approximator
of deaths/deaths + recoveries (2,169/2,169 + 17,572 = 11%) as of 29 February 2020. Compared to those aged 30-59 years, those aged below 30 and above 59 years were 0.6 (0.3-1.1) and 5.1 (4.2-6.1) times more likely to die after developing symptoms. The risk of symptomatic infection increased with age (for example, at ~4% per year among adults aged 30-60 years).
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FZAB, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an important chronic or relapsing inflammatory skin disease that often precedes asthma and allergic disorders. New insights into the genetics and pathophysiology of AD point ...to an important role of structural abnormalities in the epidermis as well as immune dysregulation not only for this skin disease but also for the development of asthma and allergies. Patients with AD have a unique predisposition to colonization or infection by microbial organisms, most notably Staphylococcus aureus and herpes simplex virus. Measures directed at healing and protecting the skin barrier and addressing the immune dysregulation are essential in the treatment of patients with AD, and early intervention may improve outcomes for both the skin disease as well as other target organs.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Ubiquitous sensors and smart devices from factories and communities are generating massive amounts of data, and ever-increasing computing power is driving the core of computation and services from ...the cloud to the edge of the network. As an important enabler broadly changing people's lives, from face recognition to ambitious smart factories and cities, developments of artificial intelligence (especially deep learning, DL) based applications and services are thriving. However, due to efficiency and latency issues, the current cloud computing service architecture hinders the vision of "providing artificial intelligence for every person and every organization at everywhere". Thus, unleashing DL services using resources at the network edge near the data sources has emerged as a desirable solution. Therefore, edge intelligence , aiming to facilitate the deployment of DL services by edge computing, has received significant attention. In addition, DL, as the representative technique of artificial intelligence, can be integrated into edge computing frameworks to build intelligent edge for dynamic, adaptive edge maintenance and management. With regard to mutually beneficial edge intelligence and intelligent edge , this paper introduces and discusses: 1) the application scenarios of both; 2) the practical implementation methods and enabling technologies, namely DL training and inference in the customized edge computing framework; 3) challenges and future trends of more pervasive and fine-grained intelligence. We believe that by consolidating information scattered across the communication, networking, and DL areas, this survey can help readers to understand the connections between enabling technologies while promoting further discussions on the fusion of edge intelligence and intelligent edge , i.e., Edge DL.
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