Effect of COVID-19-restrictive measures on ambient particulate matter pollution in Yangon, Myanmar

BACKGROUND@#Particulate matter (PM) is recognized as the most harmful air pollutant to the human health. The Yangon city indeed suffers much from PM-related air pollution. Recent research has interestingly been focused on the novel subject of changes in the air quality associated with the restrictive measures in place during the current coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The first case of COVID-19 in Myanmar was diagnosed on March 23, 2020. In this article, we report on our attempt to evaluate any effects of the COVID-19-restrictive measures on the ambient PM pollution in Yangon.@*METHODS@#We measured the PM concentrations every second for 1 week on four occasions at three study sites with different characteristics; the first occasion was before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the remaining three occasions were while the COVID-19-restrictive measures were in place, including Stay-At-Home and Work-From-Home orders. The Pocket PM@*RESULTS@#The results showed that there was a significant reduction (P < 0.001) in both the PM@*CONCLUSIONS@#We concluded that the restrictive measures which were in effect to combat the COVID-19 pandemic had a positive impact on the ambient PM concentrations. The changes in the PM concentrations are considered to be largely attributable to reduction in anthropogenic emissions as a result of the restrictive measures, although seasonal influences could also have contributed in part. Thus, frequent, once- or twice-weekly Stay-At-Home or Telework campaigns, may be feasible measures to reduce PM-related air pollution. When devising such an action plan, it would be essential to raise the awareness of public about the health risks associated with air pollution and create a social environment in which Telework can be carried out, in order to ensure active compliance by the citizens.

The relationship of psychological resilience, self-supporting personality and psychological health of stay-at-home college students / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective To study the influence of stay-at-home college students' resilience,self-supporting personality on psychological health state.Methods A sampling survey include 536 college students was done by psychological resilience list,self-supporting personality list,90 samptoms list (SCL-90),225 stay-at-home college students were taken as study group,and 311 non-stay-at-home college students as control group.Then the results were calculated and analyzed by SPSS13.0,and the calculating methods were listed as follows:analysis of variance,chi-square test,correlation analysis,linear regression and so on.Results ① The scores of family supporting,interpersonal independence of stay-at-home college students were apparently lower than those of non-stay-at-homes(F =5.826,P ＜ 0.05 ; F =6.614,P ＜ 0.05 ; F =4.163,P ＜ 0.05 ),but the score of independence was apparently higher than those of non-stay-at-homes(F =3.980,P ＜ 0.05).②The SCL-90 total scores and each factor score of stay-at-home college were narrow higher than those of non-stay-at-home college students,while the difference level still didnt reach significant level( all P＞ 0.05 ).The relevance ratio of apparent psychological symptoms of the two group college students didnt has significent calculating difference( all P ＞ 0.05 ).③ The SCL-90 total score item and most individual factor item of stay-at-home college students had apparent negative correlation with the interpersonal independence factor of their resilience and self-supporting personality (r =- 0.537 ～ - 0.132,P ＜ 0.05 ),while not apparent negative correlation with the individual independence factor(r =-0.118 ～0.105,P ＞ 0.05 ),and also they had very few correlation with the SCL-90 factor item which was relevant with interpersonal flexibility.④Emotion control,psychological resilience and interpersonal independence apparently negatively predict the physical and mental symptoms of those stay-at-home college students,with the predicting rate of 33.7％.Conclusion Stay-at-home experience has effects on the family-supporting,bearing power,independence and interpersonal independence of college students ;Emotion control,psychological resilience and interpersonal self-supporting are the protecting factors of the psychological health condition of college students.