Biomass burning (BB) is a significant air pollution source, with global, regional and local impacts on air quality, public health and climate. Worldwide an extensive range of studies has been conducted on almost all the aspects of BB, including its specific types, on quantification of emissions and on assessing its various impacts. China is one of the countries where the significance of BB has been recognized, and a lot of research efforts devoted to investigate it, however, so far no systematic reviews were conducted to synthesize the information which has been emerging. Therefore the aim of this work was to comprehensively review most of the studies published on this topic in China, including literature concerning field measurements, laboratory studies and the impacts of BB indoors and outdoors in China. In addition, this review provides insights into the role of wildfire and anthropogenic BB on air quality and health globally. Further, we attempted to provide a basis for formulation of policies and regulations by policy makers in China.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) applies advanced analytical methods to quantify drug 25 residues in wastewater with the aim to estimate illicit drug use at the population level. Transformation processes during transport in sewers (chemical and biological reactors) and storage of wastewater samples before analysis are expected to change concentrations of different drugs to varying degrees.Ignoring transformation for drugs with low to medium stability will lead to an unknown degree of systematic under-or overestimation of drug use, which should be avoided. This review aims to 30 summarize the current knowledge related to the stability of commonly investigated drugs and, furthermore, suggest a more effective approach to future experiments. From over 100 WBE studies, around 50 mentioned the importance of stability and 24 included tests in wastewater. Most focused on in-sample stability (i.e., sample preparation, preservation and storage) and some extrapolated to insewer stability (i.e., during transport in real sewers). While consistent results were reported for rather 35 stable compounds (e.g., MDMA and methamphetamine), a varying range of stability under different or similar conditions was observed for other compounds (e.g., cocaine, amphetamine and morphine).Wastewater composition can vary considerably over time, and different conditions prevail in different sewer systems. In summary, this indicates that more systematic studies are needed to: i) cover the range of possible conditions in sewers and ii) compare results more objectively. To facilitate the latter, 40we propose a set of parameters that should be reported for in-sewer stability experiments (laboratory and full-scale). Finally, a best practice of sample collection, preservation, and preparation before analysis is suggested in order to minimize transformation during these steps.

13The stability of five illicit drug markers in wastewater was tested under different sewer 14 conditions using laboratory-scale sewer reactors. Wastewater was spiked with deuterium 15 labelled isotopes of cocaine, benzoyl ecgonine, methamphetamine, MDMA and 6-acetyl 16 morphine to avoid interference from the native isotopes already present in the wastewater 17 matrix. The sewer reactors were operated at 20 o C and pH 7.5, and wastewater was sampled at 18 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 6, 9 and 12 hours to measure the transformation/degradation of these 19 marker compounds. The results showed that while methamphetamine, MDMA and benzoyl 20 ecgonine were stable in the sewer reactors, cocaine and 6-acetyl morphine degraded quickly. 21Their degradation rates are significantly higher than the values reportedly measured in 22 wastewater alone (without biofilms). All the degradation processes followed first order 23 kinetics. Benzoyl ecgonine and morphine were also formed from the degradation of cocaine 24 and 6-acetyl morphine, respectively, with stable formation rates throughout the test. These 25 findings suggest that, in sewage epidemiology, it is essential to have relevant information of 26 the sewer system (i.e. type of sewer, hydraulic retention time) in order to accurately back-27 estimate the consumption of illicit drugs. More research is required to look into detailed 28 sewer conditions (e.g. temperature, pH and ratio of biofilm area to wastewater volume among 29 others) to identify their effects on the fate of illicit drug markers in sewer systems.

The association between temperatures and risk of cardiovascular mortality has been recognized but the association drawn from previous meta-analysis was weak due to the lack of sufficient studies. This paper presented a review with updated reports in the literature about the risk of cardiovascular hospitalization in relation to different temperature exposures and examined the dose-response relationship of temperature-cardiovascular hospitalization by change in units of temperature, latitudes, and lag days. The pooled effect sizes were calculated for cold, heat, heatwave, and diurnal variation using random-effects meta-analysis, and the dose-response relationship of temperature-cardiovascular admission was modelled using random-effect meta-regression. The Cochrane Q-test and index of heterogeneity (I(2)) were used to evaluate heterogeneity, and Egger's test was used to evaluate publication bias. Sixty-four studies were included in meta-analysis. The pooled results suggest that for a change in temperature condition, the risk of cardiovascular hospitalization increased 2.8% (RR, 1.028; 95% CI, 1.021-1.035) for cold exposure, 2.2% (RR, 1.022; 95% CI, 1.006-1.039) for heatwave exposure, and 0.7% (RR, 1.007; 95% CI, 1.002-1.012) for an increase in diurnal temperature. However no association was observed for heat exposure. The significant dose-response relationship of temperature - cardiovascular admission was found with cold exposure and diurnal temperature. Increase in one-day lag caused a marginal reduction in risk of cardiovascular hospitalizations for cold exposure and diurnal variation, and increase in latitude was associated with a decrease in risk of cardiovascular hospitalizations for diurnal temperature only. There is a significant short-term effect of cold exposure, heatwave and diurnal variation on cardiovascular hospitalizations. Further research is needed to understand the temperature-cardiovascular relationship for different climate areas.