Urbanization and population growth have contributed to a tripling of building material consumption from 2000 to 2017. Building materials have a range of environmental impacts throughout their life cycle, from extraction, processing, and transport of raw materials to building construction, use, and eventual demolition and waste. Mitigation measures that target specific materials or value chain stages may therefore have incremental or even adverse net environmental effects. In this perspective, we develop a framework for applying life cycle thinking to identify key impacts and corresponding mitigation approaches, inform building design and material selection, and ensure effective treatment and recycling of construction and demolition wastes. Life cycle evaluation can also be used to assess and avoid environmental trade-offs among life cycle stages. Challenges for implementing these life cycle principles include collecting and integrating inventory data for products, managing multiple stakeholders within the construction industry, and monitoring end-of-life impacts; measures for overcoming such challenges are discussed.

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Background/Aims:Different genotypes of HCV may differ in both disease progression and response to antiviral therapies. Hainan Island has been inhabited by the “Li” aboriginal minority for centuries. We aimed to provide a better understanding of HCV infection on Hainan Island, so that the information would help improve strategies for HCV prevention and control on the island and in the wider country. Methods: Using RT-PCR and DNA sequencing, we determined HCV sequences from 100 patients living on Hainan Island. Results: Phylogenetic analysis classified these sequences into six subtypes: 6a (n=35), 1b (n=31), 3b (n=16), 2a (n=8), 3a (n=6), and 1a (n=4). By including reference sequences reported from elsewhere in China, phylogeographic trees were reconstructed to indicate their migration patterns. While the predominant 6a isolates were estimated to have origins in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, the increase in 3b strains must have resulted from IDU network transmission from the southwest. A Bayesian Skyline Plot for subtype 1a, which is rare in China, showed a rapid population growth since 1998. Although slowed in rate around 2005, this growth continued to the present. Not found for any other HCV lineage. Conclusions: Overall, a delayed growth pattern may indicate the unique history of 1a dissemination in China and its recently increasing prevalence, despite measures taken to improve HCV prevention.

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China has witnessed a construction boom and thus an enormous amount of cement use in the past decades. At the same time, cement manufacturing technology has been upgraded rapidly. Here, based on national- and provincial-level data, we adopt regression models, life cycle assessment, and scenario analyses to present the evolution and environmental impacts of cement manufacturing technologies from 1996 to 2021. We find that novel suspension preheater rotary kilns account for approximately 99% of cement production in China in 2021. Climate change and fossil depletion are identified as the key environmental burdens of cement manufacturing, whereas the reduction in particulate matter emissions appears to be the most prominent benefit of the new technology. By 2021, technology upgrades had led to a mitigation of pollution from cement manufacturing by 25% to 53%. Our findings can help inform credible pathways towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly cement industry.