A Geo-AI-based ensemble mixed spatial prediction model with fine spatial-temporal resolution for estimating daytime/nighttime/daily average ozone concentrations variations in Taiwan.

High levels of ground level ozone (O3) are associated with detrimental health concerns. Most of the studies only focused on daily average and daytime trends due to the presence of sunlight that initiates its formation. However, atmospheric chemical reactions occur all day, thus, nighttime concentrations should be given equal importance. In this study, geospatial-artificial intelligence (Geo-AI) which combined kriging, land use regression (LUR), machine learning, an ensemble learning, was applied to develop ensemble mixed spatial models (EMSMs) for daily, daytime, and nighttime periods. These models were used to estimate the long-term O3 spatio-temporal variations using a two-decade worth of in-situ measurements, meteorological parameters, geospatial predictors, and social and season-dependent factors. From the traditional LUR approach, the performance of EMSMs improved by 60% (daytime), 49% (nighttime), and 57% (daily). The resulting daily, daytime, and nighttime EMSMs had a high explanatory power with and adjusted R2 of 0.91, 0.91, and 0.88, respectively. Estimation maps were produced to examine the changes before and during the implementation of nationwide COVID-19 restrictions. These results provide accurate estimates and its diurnal variation that will support pollution control measure and epidemiological studies.

A comprehensive evaluation of COVID-19 policies and outcomes in 50 countries and territories.

The COVID-19 pandemic struck the world unguarded, some places outperformed others in COVID-19 containment. This longitudinal study considered a comparative evaluation of COVID-19 containment across 50 distinctly governed regions between March 2020 and November 2021. Our analysis distinguishes between a pre-vaccine phase (March-November 2020) and a vaccinating phase (December 2020-November 2021). In the first phase, we develop an indicator, termed lockdown efficiency (LE), to estimate the efficacy of measures against monthly case numbers. Nine other indicators were considered, including vaccine-related indicators in the second phase. Linear mixed models are used to explore the relationship between each government policy & hygiene education (GP&HE) indicator and each vital health & socioeconomic (VH&SE) measure. Our ranking shows that surveyed countries in Oceania and Asian outperformed countries in other regions for pandemic containment prior to vaccine development. Their success appears to be associated with non-pharmaceutical interventions, acting early, and adjusting policies as needed. After vaccines have been distributed, maintaining non-pharmacological intervention is the best way to achieve protection from variant viral strains, breakthrough infections, waning vaccine efficacy, and vaccine hesitancy limiting of herd immunity. The findings of the study provide insights into the effectiveness of emerging infectious disease containment policies worldwide.

Incidence and Risk of Fatal Vehicle Crashes Among Professional Drivers: A Population-Based Study in Taiwan.

Fatal vehicle crashes (FVCs) are among the leading causes of death worldwide. Professional drivers often drive under dangerous conditions; however, knowledge of the risk factors for FVCs among professional drivers remain scant. We investigated whether professional drivers have a higher risk of FVCs than non-professional drivers and sought to clarify potential risk factors for FVCs among professional drivers. We analyzed nationwide incidence rates of FVCs as preliminary data. Furthermore, by using these data, we created a 1:4 professionals/non-professionals preliminary study to compare with the risk factors between professional and non-professional drivers. In Taiwan, the average crude incidence rate of FVCs for 2003-2016 among professional drivers was 1.09 per 1,000 person-years; professional drivers had a higher percentage of FVCs than non-professional drivers among all motor vehicle crashes. In the 14-year preliminary study with frequency-matched non-professional drivers, the risk of FVCs among professional drivers was significantly associated with a previous history of involvement in motor vehicle crashes (adjustment odds ratio [OR] = 2.157; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.896-2.453), previous history of benzodiazepine use (adjustment OR = 1.385; 95% CI, 1.215-1.579), and speeding (adjustment OR = 1.009; 95% CI, 1.006-1.013). The findings have value to policymakers seeking to curtail FVCs.

Prospective health surveillance for COVID-19 among health care workers at a university medical center in Taiwan, January to June 2020.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare personnel (HCP) at the front line of care are exposed to occupational hazards that place them at risk for infection, which then endanger patient safety and compromise the capability of the healthcare workforce. As of March 8, 2021 more than 420,170 HCP in US had been infected with SARS CoV-2 with 1388 deaths. In two Taiwan hospitals COVID-19 outbreaks involved HCP and resulted in shutdown of service. This report describes our prospective health surveillance of the HCP and COVID-19 containment measures in a teaching hospital in Taiwan during Jan. 1 through June 30, 2020. METHODS: We prospectively monitored incidents, defined as an HCP with the predefined symptoms, reported by HCP through the web-based system. HCP were managed based on an algorithm that included SARS CoV-2 RNA PCR testing. Infection prevention and control policy/practice were reviewed. RESULTS: This hospital took care of 17 confirmed COVID-19 cases during the study period and the first Case was admitted on January 23, 2020. Among the 14,210 HCP, there were 367 incident events. Of 283 HCP tested for SARS CoV-2, 179 had predefined symptoms. These included 10 HCP who met the national case definition for COVID-19 infection and 169 based on Extended COVID-19 Community Screening program. The other 104 asymptomatic HCP were tested based on hospital policy. All of them had tested negative. CONCLUSION: We attribute our success in preventing COVID-19 infections among HCP to rapid, proactive, decisive, integrated national and institutional response in the early stages of the epidemic.