Aging in China: perspectives on public health / 《全球健康杂志（英文）》

In line with the worldwide trend in population aging, China has stepped into an aging society since 2000. The outstanding features of aging, including a large proportion of the older population, rapid growth, dramatic expansion of the oldest-old, and uneven aging distribution, have put China in a unique position. Besides, older population is expanding in parallel with the escalating burden of disease, high prevalence of disability, and low social involvement. However, China is not prepared to solve these problems in terms of the economy, awareness, geriatric care system, geriatric team, social security, or age-friendly environment. From the perspective of public health, we summarized the major challenges and proposed the following policy recommendations: (1) strengthening the top-level design and building a "government-leading, multi-sectoral-cooperating, and society-participating" pattern; (2) enhancing health services by implementing the "comprehensive health" strategy; (3) developing home and community care, coordinately enhance institutional care, promote integration of medical and care systems, and establish a multidimensional tailored care system; (4) optimizing geriatric the supporting system, included the construction of geriatric team and the long-term care insurance system; and (5) establishing a physical and socially age-friendly environment.

Risk factors for cardiovascular disease in the Chinese population: recent progress and implications / 《全球健康杂志（英文）》

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in both urban and rural areas of China. The current evidence regarding CVD risk factors was primarily established in Western countries, with limited generalizability to the Chinese population. In China, a growing number of population-based prospective cohort studies have emerged that have yielded substantial research data on CVD risk factors in the past five years. The research studies have covered biological risk factors (e.g., blood lipids, blood pressure, blood glucose, adiposity), lifestyle risk factors (e.g., smoking, alcohol, diet, physical activity), environmental risk factors (e.g., ambient and indoor air pollution), and risk prediction. This study aimed to systematically review the research progress on CVD risk factors in the Chinese population in the past five years. Prospective studies in China have identified biological, lifestyle, and environmental risk factors for CVD and its main subtypes, along with some protective factors unique to the Chinese (e.g., spicy food and green tea). This review aimed to provide high-quality evidence for achieving the Outline of Healthy China 2030, developing disease prevention guidelines and measures, and deepening efforts for popularization of health knowledge.

Enabling collaborative research using the Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN).

OBJECTIVE: As biomedical technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, researchers can probe ever more subtle effects with the added requirement that the investigation of small effects often requires the acquisition of large amounts of data. In biomedicine, these data are often acquired at, and later shared between, multiple sites. There are both technological and sociological hurdles to be overcome for data to be passed between researchers and later made accessible to the larger scientific community. The goal of the Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN) is to address the challenges inherent in biomedical data sharing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: BIRN tools are grouped into 'capabilities' and are available in the areas of data management, data security, information integration, and knowledge engineering. BIRN has a user-driven focus and employs a layered architectural approach that promotes reuse of infrastructure. BIRN tools are designed to be modular and therefore can work with pre-existing tools. BIRN users can choose the capabilities most useful for their application, while not having to ensure that their project conforms to a monolithic architecture. RESULTS: BIRN has implemented a new software-based data-sharing infrastructure that has been put to use in many different domains within biomedicine. BIRN is actively involved in outreach to the broader biomedical community to form working partnerships. CONCLUSION: BIRN's mission is to provide capabilities and services related to data sharing to the biomedical research community. It does this by forming partnerships and solving specific, user-driven problems whose solutions are then available for use by other groups.