No abstract

Background In recent years, public health incidents that pose a serious threat to public life have occurred frequently in China. The use of social media by public health authorities has helped to reduce these threats by increasing effective risk communication between the government and the public. Objective The aim of this study is to reveal how China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses social media to improve three aspects of health communication between the government and the public: adoption, operation, and interaction. Methods To analyze the 134 CDC government Weibo accounts at the provincial- and prefecture-level administration regions in mainland China, we collected their account data and extracted 1215 Weibo tweets. We also supplemented the data to reveal the overall performance of the CDC’s government Weibo use during the COVID-19 crisis. Results The registration rate of the CDC’s government Weibo accounts increased year by year, and the local authorities registered Weibo accounts before the central government authorities. In total, 29.8% (n=134) of the 450 CDC facilities have registered an account. Among the 134 CDC facilities that have registered Weibo accounts, the registration rate in the eastern region (n=68, 50.7%) was higher than those in the central region (n=30, 22.4%) and the western region (n=36, 26.9%). Nearly 90.0% of these Weibo accounts had official certification, but there were dropouts in the specific operating process. One-third of the accounts have not been updated for more than 1 year, and the number of Weibo followers was polarized, with a maximum and minimum difference of 1 million. The response rate to users’ comments was less than 1%. Emergency information, multimedia content, and original content were more helpful in promoting communication between the government and the public. Such interaction was partially improved during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC updated the daily epidemic situation and provided popular science information for epidemic prevention and control for the public in a timely manner. Conclusions China’s CDC is using more social media to popularize daily health information and has taken the first step to improve communication between the government and the public. However, equal dialogue, two-way interactions, and effective communication with the public still need improvement.

Water level conditions are the key factors that affect the growth and distribution of wetland plants. Using Carex cinerascens (C. cinerascens) as the study species, we employ indoor simulations and field surveys. Our results show that C. cinerascens can adapt to rhythmic changes in the water level through different adaptation strategies. Compared to that of the control group, plant growth was better with a 0–0.4 cm/d water level rate, and plant growth was in the 42–56 cm range to that a 1.0–1.4 cm/d water level rate. Furthermore, it was observed that 0–0.4 cm/d was the most suitable growth rate, with 0.6–1.0 cm/d and 0–32 cm being the ideal plant tolerance ranges, and increasing to 1.0–1.4 cm/d and 32–56 cm exceeds the plant tolerance threshold. In the middle and late period of the experiment (25–45 d), the ecological characteristics of the plants changed significantly. For example, the root-to-shoot ratio of the plant in the stable water level reached 26.1. In our field observations, plant biomass can be influenced by a variety of environmental factors. The frequency of the species was the largest at an elevation of 15 m, and the growth status of the dominant and companion species of C. cinerascens was weakened with an increase in soil moisture content. The suitable water content for C. cinerascens growth was 27.6–57.3%, the distribution elevation was 12.54–16.59 m, and the optimum elevation was 13.56–15.54 m. The study is expected to provide a reference for wetland ecology research and wetland protection and restoration, a theoretical reference for the coordination of water resource development and utilization of Poyang Lake and ecological protection of important lakes and wetlands, and an important scientific basis for wetland hydrologic regulation, ecological restoration and biodiversity conservation.

BACKGROUND In recent years, sudden public health incidents occur frequently in China, which poses a serious threat to public life. The use of social media by public health agencies helps to reduce these threats by increasing effective risk communication between government and the public. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to reveal how the China CDCs use social media to improve health communication between government and the public from three aspects: adoption, operation and interaction. METHODS To analyze the 134 CDC Government Weibo at the provincial and prefecture-levels in mainland China, collect their account data and extract 1215 Weibo tweets. RESULTS The opening rate of the CDC Government Weibo has increased year by year, and the local authorities have opened Weibo before the central government. 29.8% of the CDCs have opened an account, and among the CDCs that has opened Weibo, the adoption rate in the eastern region (50.7%) is higher than that in the central region (22.4%) and the western region (26.9%). Nearly 90% of Weibo accounts have official certification, but there are dropouts in the specific operation process, one third of accounts stop updating for more than one year, and the number of Weibo followers is polarized, with a maximum and minimum difference of one million; The response rate of user’s comments is less than 1%; Emergency information, multimedia content and original content are more helpful to promote the communication between government and the public. CONCLUSIONS The China CDCs are using more social media for popularization of daily health information, which has taken the first step to improve the communication between government and the public, however, equal dialogue, two-way interaction and effective communication with the public are still in improving.

No abstract