OBJECTIVES--To assess the acute and chronic ophthalmological effects of triethylamine exposure among foundry workers. METHODS--Ocular effects on people currently, previously, and never exposed to triethylamine in a foundry cold box were studied at two points in time. The initial phase included an ocular examination with a slit lamp to assess corneal health, a visual acuity test, and a questionnaire to assess vision symptoms. The follow up included measurements of corneal thickness with an ultrasonic pachymeter and the vision symptoms questionnaire before and after the shift and at the beginning and end of the week. Personal air measurements for triethylamine were also obtained during the follow up. RESULTS--The vision symptoms of blurriness, halos around lights, and blue hazy vision occurred more often in currently exposed workers than those previously or never exposed to triethylamine. Air concentrations of triethylamine ranged from 10 mg/m3 of triethylamine (odds ratio (OR) = 3.0, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.35-25.6). No differences in corneal thickness were found in currently or previously exposed workers and those never exposed. No increase in corneal thickness was found after v before the shift. CONCLUSION--Despite low concentrations of triethylamine and no corneal oedema, workers exposed to triethylamine reported vision symptoms. Possible explanations for these symptoms without corneal oedema are that triethylamine affects ciliary muscle function or that the corneal oedema was transient and not present when corneal thickness measurements were taken. No chronic effects were found in previously exposed workers. Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanism for the reported vision symptoms, which occurred below the current United States eight hour time weighted standard of 100 mg/m3 and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) recommended value ...
We demonstrate a high peak power femtosecond fiber laser system based on single-mode holmium (Ho) doped fibers. 833 fs, 27.7 MHz pulses at 2083.4 nm generated in a passively mode-locked Ho fiber laser are amplified and compressed to near transform-limited 172 fs, 7.2 nJ pulses with 24.3 kW peak power. We achieve this performance level by using soliton effect and high-order soliton compression. This is the first demonstration of sub-200 fs pulses, with peak power exceeding 10 kW from a Ho-doped single-mode fiber laser system without using bulk optics compressors. ; National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFA0401100); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (61605122, 61775146, 61504086); Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2016A030310049); Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (KQJSCX20160226194031, JCYJ20160428174445840, JCYJ20160427105041864, JSGG20150512162504354); EPSRC (EP/L016087/1); European Union's 7th Framework Programme (631610); Academy of Finland (276376, 284548, 295777, 304666, 312297, 312551, 314810); TEKES (OPEC).
China, with its growing population and economic development, faces increasing risks to health from climate change, but also opportunities to address these risks and protect health for generations to come. Without a timely and adequate response, climate change will impact lives and livelihoods at an accelerated rate. In 2020, the Lancet Countdown Regional Centre in Asia, led by Tsinghua University, built on the work of the global Lancet Countdown and began its assessment of the health profile of climate change in China with the aim of triggering rapid and health-responsive actions. This 2021 report is the first annual update, presenting 25 indicators within five domains: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement. The report represents the contributions of 88 experts from 25 leading institutions in, and outside of, China. From 2020 to 2021, five new indicators have been added and methods have been improved for many indicators. Where possible, the indicator results are presented at national and provincial levels to facilitate local understanding and policy making. In a year marked by COVID-19, this report also endeavours to reflect on China's pathway for a green recovery, ensuring it aligns with the carbon neutrality goal, for the health of the current and future generations.
China, with its growing population and economic development, faces increasing risks to health from climate change, but also opportunities to address these risks and protect health for generations to come. Without a timely and adequate response, climate change will impact lives and livelihoods at an accelerated rate. In 2020, the Lancet Countdown Regional Centre in Asia, led by Tsinghua University, built on the work of the global Lancet Countdown and began its assessment of the health profile of climate change in China with the aim of triggering rapid and health-responsive actions. This 2021 report is the first annual update, presenting 25 indicators within five domains: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement. The report represents the contributions of 88 experts from 25 leading institutions in, and outside of, China. From 2020 to 2021, five new indicators have been added and methods have been improved for many indicators. Where possible, the indicator results are presented at national and provincial levels to facilitate local understanding and policy making. In a year marked by COVID-19, this report also endeavours to reflect on China's pathway for a green recovery, ensuring it aligns with the carbon neutrality goal, for the health of the current and future generations.
Using the data sets taken at center-of-mass energies above 4 GeV by the BESIII detector at the BEPCII storage ring, we search for the reaction e(+)e(-) -> gamma(ISR) X(3872) -> gamma(ISR)pi(+)pi(-) J/psi via the Initial State Radiation technique. The production of a resonance with quantum numbers J(PC) = 1(++) such as the X(3872) via single photon e(+)e(-) annihilation is forbidden, but is allowed by a next-to-leading order box diagram. We do not observe a significant signal of X(3872), and therefore give an upper limit for the electronic width times the branching fraction Gamma B-X(3872)(ee)(X(3872) -> pi(+)pi(-) J/psi) < 0.13 eVat the 90% confidence level. This measurement improves upon existing limits by a factor of 46. Using the same final state, we also measure the electronic width of the psi(3686) to be Gamma(psi)(ee)(3686) ee = 2213 +/- 18(stat) +/- 99(sys) eV. ; Funding: The BESIII collaboration thanks the staff of BEPCII and the IHEP computing center for their strong support. This work is supported in part by the National Key Basic Research Program of China under Contract No. 2015CB856700; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Contract Nos. 11125525, 11235011, 11322544, 11335008, 11425524; the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Large-Scale Scientific Facility Program; Joint Large-Scale Scientific Facility Funds of the NSFC and CAS under Contract Nos. 11179007, U1232201, U1332201; CAS under Contract Nos. KJCX2-YW-N29, KJCX2-YW-N45; 100 Talents Program of CAS; INPAC and Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology; German Research Foundation DFG under Contract No. CRC-1044; Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union under Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship Grant Agreement No. 627240; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Italy; Ministry of Development of Turkey under Contract No. DPT2006K-120470; Russian Foundation for Basic Research under Contract No. 14-07-91152; U.S. Department of Energy under Contract Nos. DE-FG02-04ER41291, DE-FG02-05ER41374, DE-FG02-94ER40823, DESC0010118; U.S. National Science Foundation; University of Groningen (RuG) and the Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung (GSI), Darmstadt; WCU Program of National Research Foundation of Korea under Contract No. R32-2008-000-10155-0.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted routine hospital services globally. This study estimated the total number of adult elective operations that would be cancelled worldwide during the 12 weeks of peak disruption due to COVID-19. Methods: A global expert response study was conducted to elicit projections for the proportion of elective surgery that would be cancelled or postponed during the 12 weeks of peak disruption. A Bayesian β-regression model was used to estimate 12-week cancellation rates for 190 countries. Elective surgical case-mix data, stratified by specialty and indication (surgery for cancer versus benign disease), were determined. This case mix was applied to country-level surgical volumes. The 12-week cancellation rates were then applied to these figures to calculate the total number of cancelled operations. Results: The best estimate was that 28 404 603 operations would be cancelled or postponed during the peak 12 weeks of disruption due to COVID-19 (2 367 050 operations per week). Most would be operations for benign disease (90·2 per cent, 25 638 922 of 28 404 603). The overall 12-week cancellation rate would be 72·3 per cent. Globally, 81·7 per cent of operations for benign conditions (25 638 922 of 31 378 062), 37·7 per cent of cancer operations (2 324 070 of 6 162 311) and 25·4 per cent of elective caesarean sections (441 611 of 1 735 483) would be cancelled or postponed. If countries increased their normal surgical volume by 20 per cent after the pandemic, it would take a median of 45 weeks to clear the backlog of operations resulting from COVID-19 disruption. Conclusion: A very large number of operations will be cancelled or postponed owing to disruption caused by COVID-19. Governments should mitigate against this major burden on patients by developing recovery plans and implementing strategies to restore surgical activity safely.