Ambient nitrogen dioxide and cardiovascular diseases in rural regions: a time-series analyses using data from the new rural cooperative medical scheme in Fuyang, East China.

Most of studies relating ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure to hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) were conducted among urban population. Whether and to what extent these results could be generalizable to rural population remains unknown. We addressed this question using data from the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS) in Fuyang, Anhui, China. Daily hospital admissions for total CVDs, ischaemic heart disease, heart failure, heart rhythm disturbances, ischaemic stroke, and haemorrhagic stroke in rural regions of Fuyang, China, were extracted from NRCMS between January 2015 and June 2017. A two-stage time-series analysis method was used to assess the associations between NO2 and CVD hospital admissions and the disease burden fractions attributable to NO2. In our study period, the average number (standard deviation) of hospital admissions per day were 488.2 (117.1) for total CVDs, 179.8 (45.6) for ischaemic heart disease, 7.0 (3.3) for heart rhythm disturbances, 13.2 (7.2) for heart failure, 267.9 (67.7) for ischaemic stroke, and 20.2 (6.4) for haemorrhagic stroke. The 10-µg/m3 increase of NO2 was related to an elevated risk of 1.9% (RR: 1.019, 95% CI: 1.005 to 1.032) for hospital admissions of total CVDs at lag0-2 days, 2.1% (1.021, 1.006 to 1.036) for ischaemic heart disease, and 2.1% (1.021, 1.006 to 1.035) for ischaemic stroke, respectively, while no significant association was observed between NO2 and hospital admissions for heart rhythm disturbances, heart failure, and haemorrhagic stroke. The attributable fractions of total CVDs, ischaemic heart disease, and ischaemic stroke to NO2 were 6.52% (1.87 to 10.94%), 7.31% (2.19 to 12.17%), and 7.12% (2.14 to 11.85%), respectively. Our findings suggest that CVD burdens in rural population are also partly attributed to short-term exposure to NO2. More studies across rural regions are required to replicate our findings.

Enhanced Hydrothermal Stability and Catalytic Performance of HKUST-1 by Incorporating Carboxyl-Functionalized Attapulgite.

Much attention has been paid to metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) due to their large surface areas, tunable functionality, and diverse structure. Nevertheless, most reported MOFs show poor hydrothermal stability, which seriously hinders their applications. Here a strategy is adopted to tailor the properties of MOFs by means of incorporating carboxyl-functionalized natural clay attapulgite (ATP) into HKUST-1, a well-known MOF. A new type of hybrid material was thus fabricated from the hybridization of HKUST-1 and ATP. Our results indicated that the hydrothermal stability of the MOFs as well as the catalytic performance was apparently improved. The frameworks of HKUST-1 were severely destroyed after hydrothermal treatment (hot water vapor, 60 °C), while that of the hybrid materials was maintained. For the hybrid materials containing 8.4 wt % of ATP, the surface area reached 1302 m(2)·g(-1) and was even higher than that of pristine HKUST-1 (1245 m(2)·g(-1)). In the ring-opening of styrene oxide, the conversion reached 98.9% at only 20 min under catalysis from the hybrid material, which was obviously higher than that over pristine HKUST-1 (80.9%). Moreover, the hybrid materials showed excellent reusability and the catalytic activity was recoverable without loss after six cycles. Our materials provide promising candidates for heterogeneous catalysis owing to the good catalytic activity and reusability.

[Influence of green roof application on water quantity and quality in urban region].

Green roof is widely used in advanced stormwater management as a major measure now. Taking Huxi catchment in Chongqing University as the study area, the relationships between green roof installation with runoff volume and water quality in urban region were investigated. The results showed that roof greening in the urban region contributed to reducing the runoff volume and pollution load. In addition, the spatial distribution and area of green roof also had effects on the runoff water quality. With the conditions that the roof area was 25% of the total watershed area, rainfall duration was 15 min and rainfall intensity was 14.8 mm x h(-1), the peak runoff and total runoff volume were reduced by 5.3% and 31%, the pollution loads of total suspended solid (TSS), total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) decreased by 40.0%, 31.6% and 29.8%, their peak concentrations decreased by 21.0%, 16.0% and -12.2%, and the EMCs (event mean concentrations) were cut down by 13.1%, 0.9% and -1.7%, respectively, when all impervious roofs were greened in the research area. With the increase of roof greening rate, the reduction rates of TSS and TP concentrations increased, while the reduction rate of TN concentration decreased on the whole. Much more improvement could be obtained with the use of green roofs near the outlet of the watershed.

Hydrothermal synthesis of nanocrystalline NaX zeolite at room temperature.

NaX zeolites were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis under room-temperature conditions. Some influence parameters such as crystallization time, Al2O3/SiO2, Na2O/SiO2 and H2O/SiO2 molar ratios on the crystalline end products were studied, the products were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, particle size analysis and N2 adsorption-desorption techniques. The results indicated that although 28 days product was fully crystalline according to the XRD investigation, the crystals were able to continue to grow. The TEM revealed that the samples were composed of highly crystalline NaX zeolite nanocrystals with the average size of around 30 nm. Long crystallization time favored the aggregation of individual nanocrystals, which led to the formation of large congregated agglomerates. Furthermore, mild alkalinity circumstance was favorable for the crystallization of FAU zeolite. However, higher water quantity resulted in the formation of larger steady congregated agglomerates. The samples obtained with H2O/SiO2 molar ratios of 100, 150, 250, 300 and 400 showed the mean particle sizes of 42, 108, 359, 551 and 962 nm, with the particle size distribution ranges of 30-63, 62-140, 215-602, 345-746 and 498-1395 nm, respectively.

[Filter coated with phenyl fluorone for enrichment and determination of indium by GFAAS].

The filter fiber column coated with phenyl fluorone was extended to pre-concentrate trace amount of indium determined by GFAAS. The optimized condition for filter fiber coated with phenyl fluorone was obtained. The enrichment condition was achieved when the pregnant solution at pH 5 flowed through the filter fiber column at the rate of less than 2.0 mL x min(-1), then 8mL HNO3 of 5.00 mol x L(-1) was used as an eluent. With a general graphite tube coated with tungsten and silver as matrix modifier, the sensitivity was enhanced with GFAAS. The method was validated by the determination of trace indium in water, artificial zinc, and aluminium samples. The detection limit of the method was 0.32 ng x mL(-1), the recovery was in the range of 95.0%-101%, and the RSD was between 1.8% and 7.0%.

[Precipitation trapping with phenylfluorone and determination of trace gallium, germanium, molybdenum and indium by GFAAS].

The preconcentration of trace gallium, germanium, molybdenum and indium by trapping with precipitation of phenylfluorone (PF), and the determination of the elements by GFAAS were developed. The effects such as those of acidity, amounts of PF, aging time, volume of test solution, and the coexistent ions on the preconcentration of the trace elements were examined in detail. The optimum conditions of preconcentration for Ga(III) were pH approximately 2 test solution 500 mL with added 10.00 mg x mL(-1) PF (2.00 mL) and aging for 4 h, those for Ge(IV) were pH approximately 2 test solution 500 mL with added 10.00 mg x mL(-1) PF (4.00 mL) and aging for 10 h, those for Mo(V) were pH approximately 3 test solution 1 000 mL with added 10.00 mg x mL(-1) PF (3.00 mL) and aging for 6 h, and those for In(III) were pH approximately 5 test solution 100 mL with added 10.00 mg x mL(-1) PF (3.00 mL) and aging for 10 h. The experiment results showed that the main contribution to trapping trace gallium, germanium, molybdenum and indium with PF precipitation was post-precipitation instead of coprecipitation. The detection limits (3s) were 0.12 ng x mL(-1) for gallium, 0.30 ng x mL(-1) for germanium, 0.046 ng x mL(-1) for molybdenum and 2.7 ng x mL(-1) for indium. The developed methods were successfully applied to the determination of trace amount of the elements in water samples, geological standard reference materials, and zinc concentrate samples by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry.