Suchergebnisse

Massive population movement across dialectal boundaries in contemporary China leads to increasing bilingualism in Putonghua (Standard Chinese) and regional dialects. This study investigates the functional distribution of Putonghua and Cantonese as spoken by immigrant residents in Guangdong Province. Results from questionnaire surveys in Guangzhou and Shenzhen reveal different patterns of Putonghua-dialect bilingualism in the two cities. For immigrants in Guangzhou, Putonghua and the local dialect (Cantonese) have comparable strength and functions, whereas in Shenzhen, Putonghua serves as the dominant language. To account for the differences between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, we argue that demographic structure is an important factor regulating the standard-dialect relationship in the urban communities of China. We propose that social network features correlate with the respective instrumental and integrative values of the languages or dialects in contact. This research provides insights into the dynamic interaction between the standard language and dialects in multilingual societies that are experiencing profound social changes.

AbstractThis article examines social deprivation at a regional scale using the case of Guangdong province, China. Counties, county‐level cities, and districts of prefecture cities are selected as the units of analysis. At the provincial level, a significant variation is found in terms of the social deprivation index, showing a pattern of increasing deprivation from the core of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) to the peripheral areas of Guangdong province. In the PRD, social development conditions are significantly different among these units, whereas the level of economic development is less differentiated. Social deprivation in urban areas is considerably lower than in rural areas. The differences between cities are significant, showing a bifurcation trend, whereas rural areas seem to be similar. Social disparities in Guangdong province are derived from unequal economic growth as well as social and regional policies.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all sectors of the world economy and society. To understand the impact of the pandemic on firms in China and suggest public policies to deal with the negative effects, we investigated firms in Guangdong Province. METHODS: The survey sample included 524 firms in 15 cities in Guangdong Province. We chose these firms from the list published by the government, considering the industrial characteristics of Guangdong province and firm size. The questionnaire was developed based on previous studies carried out by UNDP. It comprised four categories with a total of 17 questions. The executives of firms were contacted by telephone or WeChat, and were invited to answer self-administered questionnaires through an online survey platform. The data was analyzed by SPSS. RESULTS: The following key findings were revealed through the survey: (1) 48.7% of firms maintained stability, and 35.1% experienced a halt in operation or faced closure; (2) Nearly 70–90% already exploit online commerce or are willing to do so, and also remote office work, and digital operations. (3) 46% believe that they will certainly incur losses for 2020, and 83.5% expect the city's GDP to decrease. CONCLUSIONS: Firms in Guangdong Province have faced great challenges in the epidemic. Their production and operation activities have been limited, and they are facing significant risks. It is necessary to implement policies that would profoundly lower production costs for firms, help them survive this difficult period, and gradually return to normal business.

Guangdong is China's largest province in terms of energy consumption. The energy-related carbon emissions in Guangdong province are calculated, and two extended and improved decomposition models for energy-related carbon emissions are established with the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index method based on the basic principle of Kaya identity. Main results are as follows: (1) the energy-related carbon emissions from the three strata of industry, except the primary industry, and household energy consumption in Guangdong province show increasing trend from 1995 to 2009; (2) the main driving and inhibiting factors which influence energy-related carbon emissions are economic output and energy intensity, respectively, while the contributions of energy mix, industrial structures, population size and living standards are not significant during the period of interest. It is concluded that optimizing the energy mix by exploiting new energy sources and cutting down energy intensity by developing low-carbon technologies are the two most effective approaches to reduce carbon emissions for Guangdong province in the future. The results and proposals in this paper provided reference for relevant administrative departments in the Government of Guangdong province to develop policies for energy conservation and emission reduction as well as to promote development of low-carbon economy.

Referencing the land use classification system of the "production-living-ecological" space and using 1 km × 1 km grids, this study examines the spatial pattern changes of "production-living-ecological" space in Guangdong Province, China, from 1990 to 2017. In the study, a multiple linear regression analysis model was constructed to explore the influencing factors and attribution mechanism of the changes. The results showed that between 1990 and 2017, the production spaces were mainly distributed in the Pearl River Delta and other coastal areas, showing a slight expansion trend (1). The expansion of production spaces mainly gathered in the Pearl River Delta, while the reduction was characterized by point-type dispersed. Living spaces were mainly distributed in the Pearl River Delta, the Shantou–Shanwei–Chaozhou–Jieyang urban agglomeration, the Zhanjiang-Maoming–Yangjiang urban agglomeration, and other rapidly growing urbanized areas. They showed a spatial pattern of "large scale agglomeration and small scale dispersion" with a trend towards expansion. Living spaces in urban agglomerations such as the Pearl River Delta showed a large-scale expansion from the core to the peripheral area, while expansion in other areas was small-scale and point-type. The reduction of living spaces was point-type dispersed. The ecological spaces were mainly distributed in mountainous and hilly areas in eastern, western, and northern Guangdong and showed a "regional agglomeration and partially fragmented" spatial pattern. Ecological spaces in urban agglomerations showed large-scale and regional reductions, while reductions in other areas were small-scale and point-type. Ecological space expansions were point-type dispersed. Human, natural, and especially land-use type factors drove the changes of Guangdong's production-living-ecological spaces (2). The changes of the production-living-ecological space pattern resulted from the interaction between human society, nature, and politics (3).

Weiqi Liu,1,* Weiling Liu,2,* Shaoling Wang,3 Huichun Tong,4 Jianmin Yuan,5 Zhenning Zou,6 Jianwen Liu,7 Donghai Yang,8 Zhongxing Xie9 1Department of Clinical Laboratory, Maternal and Children Health Care Hospital (Huzhong Hospital) of Huadu, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510800, People's Republic of China; 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Chancheng Centre Hospital, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, People's Republic of China; 3Department of Clinical Laboratory, Taishan People's Hospital, Jiangmen, Guangdong, 529200, People's Republic of China; 4Department of Clinical Laboratory, Boai Hospital of Zhongshan, Zhongshan, Guangdong, 528402, People's Republic of China; 5Department of Clinical Laboratory, Humen Hospital, Dongguan, Guangdong, 523899, People's Republic of China; 6Department of Clinical Laboratory, Shenzhen Maternity & Child Healthcare Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518028, People's Republic of China; 7Department of Clinical Laboratory, Huiyang Sanhe Hospital, Huizhou, Guangdong, 516211, People's Republic of China; 8Department of Clinical Laboratory, Sanzhao Town Health Center, Jinwan District, Zhuhai, Guangdong, 519040, People's Republic of China; 9Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second People's Hospital of Zhaoqing, Zhaoqing, Guangdong, 526060, People's Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Shaoling Wang Email shaoling_w@hotmail.comBackground: In China, the prevalence of HUA in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of Guangdong Province has not been extensively investigated. Therefore, this study investigated the prevalence of HUA and its related factors among people aged 20– 99 years in nine cities in the PRD.Materials and Methods: We selected 6491 health check participants from 9 cities in the PRD and collected participants' anthropometric and biochemical test results for a cross-sectional study. We included 6491 participants and assessed their blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), glucose (Glu) and serum uric acid (UA) to analyze the regional prevalence of HUA and its related factors. HUA was indicated when fasting serum UA level was > 420 μmol/L in men and > 360 μmol/L in women.Results: Overall prevalence of HUA in our cohort was 34.05%; prevalence was higher in men than in women (41.53% vs 26.14%, P < 0.001). Characteristics associated with HUA were hypertension (odds ratio (OR), 5.506; 95% confidence interval (CI), 4.402– 6.889), higher body mass index (BMI; OR: 1.746; 95% CI: 1.560– 1.954), age 31– 40 years (OR: 0.829; 95% CI: 0.706– 0.973), age 61– 70 years (OR: 1.434; 95% CI: 1.194– 1.722) and age ≥ 71 years (OR: 1.742; 95% CI: 1.397– 2.173). In all subjects, serum UA was positively correlated with Glu, TG and TC. After we adjusted for age, BMI and BP, multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that HUA risk factors were high TC (OR: 1.770; 95% CI: 1.459– 2.147) and TG (OR: 1.961; 95% CI: 1.632– 2.357) in men; and high Glu (OR: 1.508; 95% CI: 1.084– 2.099), TC (OR: 1.341; 95% CI: 1.084– 1.660) and TG (OR: 1.680; 95% CI: 1.290– 2.187) in women.Conclusion: The prevalence of HUA was relatively high in the PRD of Guangdong Province. Relevant governmental bodies should focus on early diagnosis, early treatment and early intervention.Keywords: hyperuricemia, uric acid, prevalence, cardiovascular diseases, risk

BACKGROUND: In China, the prevalence of HUA in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of Guangdong Province has not been extensively investigated. Therefore, this study investigated the prevalence of HUA and its related factors among people aged 20–99 years in nine cities in the PRD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We selected 6491 health check participants from 9 cities in the PRD and collected participants' anthropometric and biochemical test results for a cross-sectional study. We included 6491 participants and assessed their blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), glucose (Glu) and serum uric acid (UA) to analyze the regional prevalence of HUA and its related factors. HUA was indicated when fasting serum UA level was >420 μmol/L in men and >360 μmol/L in women. RESULTS: Overall prevalence of HUA in our cohort was 34.05%; prevalence was higher in men than in women (41.53% vs 26.14%, P < 0.001). Characteristics associated with HUA were hypertension (odds ratio (OR), 5.506; 95% confidence interval (CI), 4.402–6.889), higher body mass index (BMI; OR: 1.746; 95% CI: 1.560–1.954), age 31–40 years (OR: 0.829; 95% CI: 0.706–0.973), age 61–70 years (OR: 1.434; 95% CI: 1.194–1.722) and age ≥71 years (OR: 1.742; 95% CI: 1.397–2.173). In all subjects, serum UA was positively correlated with Glu, TG and TC. After we adjusted for age, BMI and BP, multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that HUA risk factors were high TC (OR: 1.770; 95% CI: 1.459–2.147) and TG (OR: 1.961; 95% CI: 1.632–2.357) in men; and high Glu (OR: 1.508; 95% CI: 1.084–2.099), TC (OR: 1.341; 95% CI: 1.084–1.660) and TG (OR: 1.680; 95% CI: 1.290–2.187) in women. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of HUA was relatively high in the PRD of Guangdong Province. Relevant governmental bodies should focus on early diagnosis, early treatment and early intervention.

OBJECTIVES: An increased trend in the number of reported gonorrhoea cases has been observed between 2014 and 2017 in China. This study aims to describe the reported epidemic of gonorrhoea and potential driving forces in Guangdong Province, China. DESIGN: A review of surveillance data. PARTICIPANTS: Three different sources of data from Guangdong Province were analysed: gonorrhoea cases reported to the Chinese sexually transmitted infections (STI) case report system (CRS); a clinic-based retrospective study conducted to collect information on annual gonorrhoea screening coverage and data from the Guangdong governmental sentinel surveillance network (SSN) to examine the gonorrhoea prevalence among males attending STI clinics. OUTCOME MEASURES: Reported incidence of gonorrhoea, number of reported gonorrhoea cases, number of screening tests for gonorrhoea and gonorrhoea prevalence. RESULTS: The STI CRS data showed that the reported incidence of gonorrhoea has increased rapidly from 15.7 cases per 100 000 population in 2014 to 27.3 cases per 100 000 in 2017 in Guangdong (p<0.001). Regions with a reported incidence of gonorrhoea cases of more than 10 cases per 100 000 expanded from 7 cities in 2014 to 13 cities in 2017. The SSN data showed that the gonorrhoea prevalence among males attending STI clinics increased from 2.7% in 2015 to 3.6% in 2017 (p=0.14). The retrospective study showed that the increased rate of screening for gonorrhoea between 2014 and 2017 was 35.0%, which was much lower than the increased rate of the number of reported gonorrhoea cases (123.3%). CONCLUSIONS: The number of gonococcal infections is rapidly rising in Guangdong, China. Expanded screening coverage, use of more sensitive diagnostics and increase of gonorrhoea prevalence are three potential contributors to the epidemic. Additional targeted intervention strategies are necessary in the future to control the epidemic.

In December 2019, human infection with a novel coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, was confirmed in Wuhan, China, and spread rapidly beyond Wuhan and around the world. By 7 May 2020, a total of 84,409 patients were infected in mainland China, with 4,643 deaths, according to a Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention report. Recent studies reported that critically ill patients were presented with high mortality. However, the clinical experiences of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have not been described in Guangdong Province, where by 7 May 2020, 1,589 people had been confirmed as having COVID-19 but with a very low mortality of 8 death (0.5%). Here, we describe the experience of critical care response to the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in Guangdong Province in the following points: Early intervention by the government, Establishment of a Multidisciplinary Working Group, Prompt intensive care interventions, Adequate ICU beds and Human resource in ICU, Infection control practices.