Background: Studies on whether lifestyle factors could explain urban-rural differences in mortality risks among Chinese adults 65 years or older are limited. We aim to assess whether and to what extent individual-level lifestyle factors contribute to urban-rural disparity in mortality among older Chinese adults. Methods: Our study included a total of 37,083 adults 65 years or older residents (8,522 city, 8,022 urban and 20,539 rural) from seven waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (1998-2014), with follow-up to the latest wave (2018). Five lifestyle factors were examined: smoking, drinking, physical activity, diet and leisure activities. All-cause mortality was ascertained through death registry and information from next of kin. We conducted multivariable Cox proportional hazard models to examine mortality risks and used two measures to estimate the contributions to urban-rural mortality disparity from lifestyle factors, PERM (percentage excess risk mediated) calculated by the change of hazard ratio of the different models divided by the hazard ratio of the adjusted demographics model and AUC (area under the receiver-operating curve). Results: During a median follow-up of 3.24 years, 23,576 death cases were recorded. Report crude differences (death rates by the 3 groups city, town, rural) before adjusting for any vars. After adjusting for demographics, the hazards for town and rural residents were 8.8% and 17.2% higher than city residents, respectively (Table 1, Model 1). Adjustment for leisure activities made the largest difference in explaining the urban-rural disparities (Model 6). Adjustment for all five lifestyle factors explained 36.6% of city-town and 26.1% of city-rural differences (Model 7). AUCs for all models were > 0.7. Conclusion: Lifestyle factors, especially leisure activities, physical activities and diet, contributed substantially to the urban-rural disparity in all-cause mortality of adults aged 65 years or older in China.

The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an urgent and complex public health challenge worldwide. As a sub-problem of AMR, antibacterial resistance (ABR) is of particular concern due to inadequacy of alternative medication. Earlier studies have shown that ABR is not only impacted by antibiotics, but also affected by the interactions between bacteria and their environments. Therefore, to combat ABR in a specific region, local environmental conditions must be investigated to comprehensively understand which environmental factors might contribute to ABR and propose more tailored solutions. This study surveyed environmental contributors of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), the parameter for measuring ABR, in the Yangtze Delta. A high abundance of ARGs was detected, despite low antibiotic and heavy metal concentrations. Phosphorus, chromium, manganese, calcium, and strontium were identified as potential key contributors of ARGs. Suppression of ARGs could be realized through decreasing the concentration of phosphorus in surface water. Group 2A light metals (e.g., magnesium and calcium) could be developed as eco-friendly reagents for controlling antibiotic resistance in the future.

Background The mutant allele (*2) of aldehyde dehydrogenase type 2 (ALDH2) caused by a single nucleotide variant (rs671) inhibits enzymatic activity and is associated with multiple diseases. In recent years, an explosive number of original studies and meta-analyses have been conducted to examine the associations of ALDH2 rs671 polymorphism with diseases. Due to conflicting results, the overall associations of ALDH2 rs671 polymorphism and multiple diseases remain unclear. Methods A quantitative umbrella review will be conducted on meta-analyses of genetic association studies to examine the pleiotropic effects of ALDH2 rs671, mainly including cardio-cerebral vascular disease, diabetes mellitus, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and alcohol-induced medical disease. A search of relevant literature according to comprehensive search strategies will be performed on studies published before July 1st, 2022 in PubMed, MEDLINE Ovid, Embase, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Web of Science. Study selection, data extraction, methodology quality assessment, and strength of evidence assessment will be conducted by two reviewers independently and in duplicate. Included meta-analyses will be grouped by outcomes. Data conflicts and overlap between meta-analyses will be managed through updated standardized and customized methods including the calculation of CCA for study selection reference, application of Doi plots to assess small-study effects and others. Evidence from included meta-analyses will be quantitatively synthesized by overlap-corrected analyses and meta-analysis using primary studies. Discussion This umbrella review is expected to generate systematic evidence on the association between ALDH2 rs671 and diseases. Specific approaches were developed to address key challenges in conducting an umbrella review, including assessment tools of methodology and evidence quality of meta-analyses, methods to manage overlap between meta-analyses, a “stop-light” plot to summarize key findings. These approaches provide applicable methods for future umbrella reviews of meta-analyses on genetic association studies. Trial registration CRD42021223812