An Aging Giant At The Center of Global Warming: Population Dynamics and Its Effect on CO2 Emissions in China

Managing the aging crisis and mitigating CO2 emissions are currently two great challenges faced by China. Revealing the complex correlation between aging and CO2, and projecting their future dynamics are fundamentally necessary to inform effective strategies and policies toward a low-carbon and sustainable development in China. In this paper, we quantitatively investigated the impacts of population aging, economy, and energy intensity on CO2 emissions through a STIRPAT model based on balanced provincial panel data from 1995-2019, and employed a cohort model and scenario analysis to project the demographic change and CO2 emissions till 2050. It is found that CO2 emissions in China has witnessed a significant growth during 1995-2019, and will exhibit an inverted U-shaped growth till 2050 with its peak appears between 2030-2040. Every 1% increase of aging will exert a 0.69% emission of CO2 in China. However, a big regional difference was also detected as aging contributed to CO2 reduction in the eastern region, but stimulated CO2 emissions in the central and western regions. Policy implications for achieving a low-carbon and aging-oriented sustainable development include the integration of aging into the decision-making of industrial structure upgrading and CO2 emission reduction in both national and region levels, the promotion of the further transition to low-carbon consumption and green products in the eastern region, and strengthening the deep fusion of aging-oriented industries with local resource and environmental endowment in the central and western regions such as the development of eco-agriculture and green pension industries.

Regional Diversities in Fibrogenesis Weighed as a Key Determinant for Atrial Arrhythmogenesis

Atrial fibrosis plays a key role in atrial myopathy, resulting in the genesis of atrial fibrillation (AF). The abnormal distribution of fibrotic tissue, electrical coupling, paracrine interactions, and biomechanical–electrical interactions have all been suggested as causes of fibrosis-related arrhythmogenesis. Moreover, the regional difference in fibrogenesis, specifically the left atrium (LA) exhibiting a higher arrhythmogenesis and level of fibrosis than the right atrium (RA) in AF, is a key contributor to atrial arrhythmogenesis. LA fibroblasts have greater profibrotic cellular activities than RA fibroblasts, but knowledge about the regional diversity of atrial regional fibrogenesis remains limited. This article provides a comprehensive review of research findings on the association between fibrogenesis and arrhythmogenesis from laboratory to clinical evidence and updates the current understanding of the potential mechanism underlying the difference in fibrogenesis between the LA and RA.

Effect of Coronavirus-19 Restrictions in Male Handball Players: Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Satisfaction with Life

This experiment examined physical activity (PA), sitting time, and satisfaction with life (SL) in European (45%) and Middle Eastern and North African (MENA; 55%) handball players (n = 418; age: 25.6 ± 6.8 years; body mass: 88.1 ± 11.7 kg; height: 1.83 ± 0.08 m) during the coronavirus (COVID)-19 pandemic. The International Physical Activity (IPAQ) and Satisfaction of Life (LS) Questionnaires were administered. All PA variables (vigorous, moderate, walking, total PA) were negatively influenced, but no interaction effects (IE; region x time) were observed. Sitting time increased from 2.5 to 4.9 h∙weekday−1 (ηp2 = 0.80) and walking time decreased from 66.8 to 33.5 min∙day−1 (ηp2 = 0.83). Based on effect sizes (d), pre- to during-confinement reductions were similar between regions (MENA: d = 3.29; Europe: d = 3.41; IE: ηp2 = 0.01). The largest regional difference was in moderate PA (MENA: d = 1.88; Europe: d = 2.99; IE: ηp2 = 0.09). SL in the total sample reduced from 30.6 ± 2.02 to 13.9 ± 2.20 arbitrary units (AU). SL reduction was similar in both regions (dMENA = 8.44; dEUROPE = 8.06; IE: ηp2 = 0.01). To conclude, PA decreased during COVID-19 confinement, sitting time increased, and SL decreased irrespective of geographical region. These preliminary findings highlight risk of SL and physical inactivity during COVID-19 restrictions in 2021.

Regional difference in prefrontal oxygenation prior to and during overground walking in humans: A wearable multi-channel NIRS study

Using wireless multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy, regional difference in cortical activity over the prefrontal cortex (PFC) was examined prior to and during overground walking, and in response to changes in speed and cognitive demand. Oxygenated-hemoglobin concentration (Oxy-Hb) as index of cortical activity in ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC), dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC), and frontopolar cortex (FPC) was measured in 14 subjects, while heart rate was measured as estimation of exercise intensity in 6 subjects. The impact of mental imagery on prefrontal Oxy-Hb was also explored. On both sides, Oxy-Hb in VLPFC, DLPFC, and lateral FPC was increased prior to the onset of normal speed walking, whereas Oxy-Hb in medial FPC did not respond prior to walking onset. During the walking, Oxy-Hb further increased in bilateral VLPFC, whereas Oxy-Hb was decreased in DLPFC and lateral and medial FPC. Increasing walking speed did not alter the increase in Oxy-Hb in VLPFC but counteracted the decrease in Oxy-Hb in DLPFC (but not in lateral and medial FPC). Treadmill running evoked a greater Oxy-Hb increase in DLPFC (n = 5 subjects). Furthermore, increasing cognitive demand during walking, by deprivation of visual feedback, counteracted the decrease in Oxy-Hb in DLPFC and lateral and medial FPC, but it did not affect the increase in Oxy-Hb in VLPFC. Taken together, the profound and localized Oxy-Hb increase is a unique response for the VLPFC. The regional heterogeneity of the prefrontal Oxy-Hb responses to natural overground walking was accentuated by increasing walking speed or cognitive demand, suggesting functional distinction within the PFC.

Understanding regional mechanics of rat myocardia by fitting hyperelastic constitutive models

Background: Availability of biaxial mechanical data for heart myocardia remains high in demand for the development of accurate and detailed computational models. Lack of accurate mechanical data for myocardia may delay the understanding of heart diseases mechanisms. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop understanding of the regional difference of wall mechanics using rat heart in the left ventricle (LV), septal wall (STW) and right ventricle (RV). This was achieved by conducting a biaxial test on three rat heart myocardia (i.e LV, RV and STW). To select the best hyperelastic model that may be utilised for the development of computational models of the heart, the Fung, Choi-Vito, Polynomial (Anisotropic), Four-Fiber family, Holzapfel (2000) and Holzapfel (2005) hyperelastic models were selected and fitted on the biaxial data of the LV, RV and STW. Results: The best hyperelastic model was selected based on evaluation index (EI) which utilises the Coefficient of Determination (R2). All the six hyperelastic constitutive models were then compared in all three rat heart myocardia. The results show that the Polynomial (Anisotropic) model outperforms the other five models in all myocardial tissues with EI’s above 90 %. The Four-fiber-family and the two Holzapfel models perform equally in the LV and STW myocardial tissue with EI of 50 and 70 %, respectively. Conclusions: The Fung and Choi-Vito models yielded poor goodness of fit in the LV and STW myocardial tissues. The results presented here will be useful for detailed development of accurate computational models studying mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases.

Conclusions

A decentralist history of Lyon’s musical life (Reuchsel, 1903) offers a springboard for rethinking the themes of decentralization, regionalism and deconcentration as they played out in France’s urban centers across the century from the 1830s to the 1930s. Comparison of decentralist and regionalist practice within the visual arts sets in relief the complex problems musicians experienced—from the ephemerality of composer groups to the state’s inability to showcase regional student compositions. Opera presented more opportunity to showcase regional difference, but the spectre of “colonization” remained, and local demands for “authentic” use of local material existed in tension with the vague atmospherics necessary for Parisian acceptance. The Vichy régime’s centralist appropriation of regionalism tainted the musical work of half a century as ruralist reaction of the extreme Right. New paradigms of thought stemming from ecomusicology suggest ways beyond the impasse of Left–Right politics that have dominated recent study.