Association between traffic-related air pollution and osteoporotic fracture hospitalizations in inland and coastal areas: evidences from the central areas of two cities in Shandong Province, China.

Our result showed that short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollutants (TRAPs) might increase the risk of hospitalizations for osteoporotic fractures. It was suggested that government should formulate emission reduction policies to protect the health of citizens. INTRODUCTION: As the main source of urban air pollution in China, exhaust emissions of motor vehicles have been linked to adverse health outcomes, but evidence of the relationship between short-term exposure to TRAPs and osteoporotic fractures is still relatively rare. METHODS: In this study, a total of 5044 inpatients from an inland city (Jinan) and a coastal city (Qingdao), two cities with developed transportation in Shandong Province, were included. A generalized additive model (GAM) was used to investigate the association between TRAPs and hospitalizations for osteoporotic fractures. The stratified analyses were performed by gender and age. RESULTS: Positive associations between TRAPs and osteoporotic fracture hospitalizations were observed. We found that short-term exposure to TRAPs was associated with increased numbers of hospitalizations for osteoporotic fractures. PM2.5 and PM10 were statistically significant associated with hospitalizations for osteoporotic fractures at both single-day and multiday lag structures only in Qingdao, with the strongest associations at lag06 and lag07 [RR=1.0446(95%CI: 1.0018,1.0891) for PM2.5, RR=1.0328(95%CI: 1.0084,1.0578) for PM10]. For NO2 and CO, we found significant associations at lag4 in the single lag structure in Jinan [RR=1.0354 (95%CI: 1.0071, 1.0646) for NO2, RR=1.0014 (95%CI: 1.0002, 1.0025) for CO], while only CO at lag4 was significantly associated with hospitalizations for osteoporotic fractures in Qingdao [1.0038 (1.0012, 1.0063)]. Stratified analyses indicated that the associations were stronger in females and older individuals (65 + years). CONCLUSION: This study implied that short-term exposure to TRAPs pollution was associated with an increased risk of hospitalizations for osteoporotic fractures. Female patients and patients aged 65 + years appeared to be more vulnerable to TRAPs, suggesting that poor air quality is a modifiable risk factor for osteoporotic fractures.

Microseismic Time Delay Estimation Method Based on Continuous Wavelet.

The microseismic signal is easily affected by observation noise and the inaccurate estimation of traditional methods will seriously reduce the location accuracy of the microseismic event. Therefore, based on the continuous wavelet spectrum and the similarity coefficient, a fast and efficient microseismic time delay estimation method is proposed. Firstly, the original signals are denoised by continuous wavelet transform. Subsequently, the time-frequency transform of the original signal by continuous wavelet transform, time-frequency signal extraction is the process of band-pass filtering, which can further reduce the influence of noise interference on the time delay estimation. Finally, we calculated the similarity between the time-frequency signals via the time domain and frequency domain integration. The similarity function is based on correlation and proposed according to the time-frequency transformation provided by the phase spectrum to evaluate the similarity between two noisy signals. The time delay estimation is determined by searching for the similarity function peak. The experimental results show the precision and accuracy of the method over the cross-correlation method and generalized cross-correlation phase transformation method, especially when the signal-to-noise ratio is low. Therefore, a new time delay estimation method for non-stationary random signals is presented in this paper.

The Association Between the Concentration of Serum Magnesium and Postmenopausal Osteoporosis.

Background: Osteoporosis is the most common and widespread chronic skeletal metabolic disease in the world and can lead to catastrophic fractures. Therefore, it is important to look for factors that can be modified or controlled to prevent osteoporosis. Although serum Mg is believed to be associated with osteoporosis in many individuals, there are conflicting reports on the association between serum Mg and osteoporosis. Therefore, this meta-analyses aimed to explore the association between the concentration of serum Mg and osteoporosis as well as that between the concentration of serum Mg and osteopenia. Methods: Articles were searched in PubMed. We also reviewed the reference lists of the relevant publications and reviews as of December 2019. Finally, 11 eligible studies involving 2,776 postmenopausal women were selected. We performed subgroup analysis, and publication bias was assessed. Results: According to the forest plot analysis, postmenopausal women with osteoporosis had a lower concentration of serum Mg than normal controls [standardized mean difference (SMD) = -0.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -1.02 to -0.09]. However, this result was not applicable to those with osteopenia (SMD = -0.30, 95% CI = -0.69 to 0.09). The subgroup analysis by geographical location found a similar pattern in European postmenopausal women with osteoporosis (SMD = -0.73, 95% CI = -1.322 to -0.143), but not in Asian (SMD = -0.007, 95% CI = -0.381 to 0.394). The subgroup analysis by site of bone mineral density (BMD) showed the serum Mg concentration of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis (BMD of femur) was lower than in healthy controls (SMD = -0.44, 95% CI = -0.77 to -0.12), and BMD of the spine group had the same conclusion (SMD = -0.78, 95% CI = -1.36 to -0.19). Besides, the serum Mg concentration of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis was lower than that of the normal bone mass group in the studies those included more than 50 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis (SMD = -0.57, 95% CI = -1.04 to -0.11). We also found postmenopausal women under the age of 60 with osteoporosis had a lower concentration of serum Mg than the healthy controls (SMD = -0.61, 95% CI = -1.09 to -0.13). Conclusion: Postmenopausal women with osteoporosis have a lower concentration of serum Mg. However, the association between the concentration of serum Mg and osteopenia needs further confirmation.

The relationship between serum vitamin D and fracture risk in the elderly: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of osteoporotic fractures has increased rapidly, and because of the poor prognosis and high mortality associated with osteoporotic fractures, they remain a prospective research area globally. One way to reduce their incidence is to investigate their intervention risk factors in the elderly. Hence, this study explores the correlation between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and osteoporotic fractures in elderly patients through a meta-analysis. METHODS: We conducted our literature search mainly in PubMed and Embase for identifying studies that investigated the relationship between serum 25(OH)D levels and the risk for osteoporotic fractures. We performed categorical analysis, heterogeneity checks, publication bias analysis, and subgroup analyses. RESULTS: In total, 20 studies were included, of which 4 were case-cohort studies and 16 were cohort studies. A total of 41,738 patients from 20 studies were included in the meta-analysis, of which 5916 had fractures, including 3237 hip fractures. By combining the lowest and highest categories of relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), it was suggested that lower serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels may be a risk factor for fractures. RR (95% CI) for total and hip fractures were 1.11 (0.99, 1.24) and 0.89 (0.80, 0.98) after adjustments. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that compared to low serum 25(OH)D levels, high serum 25(OH)D levels reduce the risk of hip fractures in the patients aged 60 years or older. In contrast, serum 25(OH)D has no significant relationship with total fracture risk.

A high temperature piezoelectric ceramic: (1-x)(Bi0.9La0.1)FeO(3-x)PbTiO3 crystalline solutions.

(1-x)(Bi(0.9)La(0.1))FeO(3-x)PbTiO(3) (BLF-PT) crystalline solutions for x = 0.35, 0.37, 0.4, 0.43 and 0.45 have been prepared by the solid-state reaction method. The X-ray diffraction analysis shows that BLF-PT has a single perovskite phase with mixed tetragonal and rhombohedral phases between x = 0.4 and 0.43. The Curie temperature of BLF-PT for x = 0.4 attains 460 degrees C, which is about 80 degrees C higher than that of hard Pb(Zr,Ti)O(3) ceramics. The remnant polarization and piezoelectric constant of BLF-PT for x = 0.4 reach 38 microC/cm(2) and 112 pC/N, respectively. The planar coupling factor k(p) of BLF-PT for x = 0.4 remains stable at temperature increases of up to 360 degrees C. The impedance spectroscopy study reveals that the high temperature conduction of BLF-PT may be attributed to the motion of oxygen vacancies within the material. Our results indicate that BLF-PT is a promising candidate for high temperature applications.

Effects of gallium on the structure and electrical properties of 0.65 (Bi0.94La0.06) (Ga(x)Fe(1-x))O3-0.35PbTiO3 ceramics.

Crystalline solutions of 0.65 Bi(0.94)La(0.06)) (Ga(x)Fe(1-x))O(3)-0.35PbTiO(3) Ceramics (BLGF-PT) for x = 0 and 0.05 have been fabricated by the solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was utilized to characterize the crystal structure and examine any possible impurities existing in the ceramics. The effects of Ga substitution on dielectric properties of the samples were studied at frequencies from 10(2) to 10(6) Hz over a temperature range from 20 to 620 degrees C. The results indicate that Ga modification can reduce the room temperature dielectric loss. The conduction mechanism of the material was investigated using ac conductivity. It is concluded that electrons originating from Fe(2+) and oxygen ion vacancies are the main charge carriers, and Ga doping could decrease the electronic conduction effectively. The frequency dependence of ac conductivity was found to follow Jonscher's universal power law.

Improvement in dielectric and tunable properties of Fe-doped Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 thin films grown by pulsed-laser deposition.

Fe-doped Ba(0.6)Sr(0.4)TiO3 (BST) thin films were prepared on Pt/Si substrates by the pulsed-laser deposition method. The concentrations of Fe dopants vary from 0.1 mol% to 1.0 mol%. Our results indicate that a certain amount of Fe dopants can decrease the dielectric loss of BST thin films without causing the significant reduction of the tunability. The leakage current of BST thin films also was reduced by the addition of Fe dopants. BST thin films doped with 0.3 mol% Fe ions show a minimum dielectric loss of 0.88% at 10(6) Hz, which is 1.7% for the undoped BST films. Moreover, the 0.3 mol% Fe-doped BST films reveal a maximum figure of merit (FOM) of 51, indicating the improved comprehensive dielectric and tunable properties.

Effects of La concentration on the structural and dielectric properties of 0.57BiFeO3-0.43PbTiO3 crystalline solutions.

Crystalline solutions of 0.57(Bi(1-x)La(x))FeO(3)-0.43PbTiO(3) (BLF-PT) for x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 were fabricated by the traditional solid state reaction method. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the tetragonal torhombohedral phase transformation of BLF-PT occurred with an increase of the La content. The dielectric and ferroelectric properties of BLF-PT were investigated at room temperature for different La contents. BLF-PT revealed strong ferroelectric characteristics for the lower La composition, and transferred to relaxor ferroelectrics for x 0.2. The dielectric constant and remanent polarization were 1461 and 33.5 microC/cm(2), respectively, for BLF-PT of x = 0.2. The dielectric constant and polarization of BLF-PT were enhanced simultaneously with increasing La content. Our results demonstrate that BLF-PT is a competitive piezoelectric ceramic.