Marine debris review for Latin America and the wider Caribbean region: from the 1970s until now, and where do we go from here?

The available literature on marine debris from Latin America and the Wider Caribbean Region was collected and linked, reviewing their methodologies and principal results (quantities, composition and spatial-temporal patterns). The study region comprises 52 coastal countries of which only 14 had registers of works on marine debris. A total of 70 works were available and 69 had their full contents accessed. Brazil dominated the available literature with 70% of the documents. Beaches were the most studied environment, and plastics the prevalent form of contamination in the whole region. The exposure of marine biota (species, type of contact, consequences) was highlighted. The studied region, although still little exploited by this sort of research, shows the same contamination patterns observed world-wide. We also contacted 40 researchers in the area, collecting scientific contributions, opinions and suggestions for improvement of this research field. Further advances and new (urgently needed) lines of research are also discussed.     

Mitigating Risks From Fracking-Related Earthquakes: Assessing State Regulatory Decisions

Public concern about earthquakes linked to wastewater injection from fracking operations is rising. However, few have examined how “induced seismicity” is acted upon by state officials. For some, an incremental response to smaller quakes can be viewed as an acceptable risk policy orientation because of the sizeable economic benefits that accompany drilling activities while others prefer risk mitigation policies (such as the use of “threshold policies”) as a better way to address quake-related problems. To account for state response to induced seismicity impacts, we examine three factors: the emergence of quakes as focusing events, the economic importance of oil and gas to state jobs and revenue, and selected characteristics of earthquakes as a policy issue, i.e., complexity and categorical precedence. Using information drawn from documentary sources, we consider which factors are most helpful in accounting for agency decisions aimed at reducing seismic risks linked to nearby injection wells.     

Big Data Resource Planning for Food Safety: a Preliminary Exploration of the “Environment,Food and Health” Information Chain

Environmental pollution, food safety and health are closely linked. A key challenge in addressing the problem of food safety and protecting public health is building an integrated knowledge base to inform policy and strengthen governance. This requires breaking down the trans-departmental information barrier across the environment, food and health domains to ensure the effective flow of data and the efficient utilization of resources, and facilitate the collaborative governance of food safety. Achieving this will be crucial for the development of health and medical care in China in the era of big data. Currently, the information resources commanded by various departments are incomplete and fragmented. Data resources are also organized in vertical silos and there is a lack of data sharing within and across policy streams. To provide the basis for more effective integrated collection and analysis of data in future, this study summarizes the information resources of various departments whose work relates to interactions between environment, food and health, and presents measures to strengthen top-down design, and establish unified data standards and a big data sharing platform. It also points to the need for increased training of data analysts with interdisciplinary expertise.     

基于倾向值匹配法的城市建成环境对居民生理健康的影响

伴随着城市化和机动化进程,肥胖及其引致的慢性疾病已成为中国严峻的社会问题。本文利用2010年中国社会综合调查、空间兴趣点POI、道路网等数据,探究城市建成环境对居民生理健康状况的影响,并通过倾向值匹配法控制自选择机制的干扰。研究发现：① 高密度的土地利用对居民总体的身体健康状况具有负向影响,而功能混合、支路网通达的城市肌理、以及充足的健康设施在降低身体质量指数BMI、抑制超重和减少慢性病方面发挥着积极作用。② 各类建成环境特征对中高社会阶层的影响集中在主观的健康感知,对中低阶层人群的影响则主要作用于客观的健康指标。③ 小尺度范围内的建成环境与中低阶层群体的身体健康水平存在更为密切的关联,但这一规律在中高社会阶层并不明显。本研究证明了主动式空间干预手段在促进居民生理健康过程中的有效性,进而就建成环境的优化策略提出了初步建议。     

The Geography of Malnutrition

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of an emerging theme within the subfield of nutritional geography we call the geography of malnutrition. Work relating to malnutrition is a high-priority research topic, with growing relevance to geographical concepts, but there is no overview of geographical approaches to this theme. Using keyword searches in Google Scholar and Web of Science to obtain relevant publications, we identified the major foci of work within this theme: undernutrition, diseases that cause malnutrition, the nutrition transition, and critical and feminist approaches to malnutrition. We review these foci, provide examples of prominent work, and identify areas of research concerning malnutrition that are highly spatial but have yet to be effectively studied using geographic techniques.     

Placing geographies of public health

Following the move to a 'post–medical' geography, a large amount of research has come to focus on public health issues. This paper explores these current geographies of public health and argues for the development of a more critical perspective. In particular, it draws on commentary that has emerged out of debates that have taken place within a body of literature usually identified as the critical 'new' public health. The paper goes on to argue that such scholarship offers crucial insights for the production of a critical geography of public health.     

气象保健、气象治疗与保健舱

气象条件对人类的健康与疾病有着明显的影响。如流行性感冒、心脑血管疾病和风湿性关节炎等发病率与天气变化有密切的关系。这类疾病通常称为气象疾病。恶劣的气象条件会破坏人体的健康状况,带来疾病;适宜的气象条件能保持人体的健康状态,促进机体新陈代谢,增强免疫能力,达到治病、保健的效果。在人类生存环境日益恶化的今天,我们一方面要努力改善、保护大的生态环境,另一方面制作一套人造生活、疗养保健的小气候环境也是简易可行的。为此,设计了一个由计算机自动控制多种气象条件的保健舱方案,如制成产品,推入市场,定能造福于人类。     

Vulnerability of Aboriginal health systems in Canada to climate change

Climate change has been identified as potentially the biggest health threat of the 21st century. Canada in general has a well developed public health system and low burden of health which will moderate vulnerability. However, there is significant heterogeneity in health outcomes, and health inequality is particularly pronounced among Aboriginal Canadians. Intervention is needed to prevent, prepare for, and manage climate change effects on Aboriginal health but is constrained by a limited understanding of vulnerability and its determinants. Despite limited research on climate change and Aboriginal health, however, there is a well established literature on Aboriginal health outcomes, determinants, and trends in Canada; characteristics that will determine vulnerability to climate change. In this paper we systematically review this literature, using a vulnerability framework to identify the broad level factors constraining adaptive capacity and increasing sensitivity to climate change. Determinants identified include: poverty, technological capacity constraints, socio-political values and inequality, institutional capacity challenges, and information deficit. The magnitude and nature of these determinants will be distributed unevenly within and between Aboriginal populations necessitating place-based and regional level studies to examine how these broad factors will affect vulnerability at lower levels. The study also supports the need for collaboration across all sectors and levels of government, open and meaningful dialogue between policy makers, scientists, health professionals, and Aboriginal communities, and capacity building at a local level, to plan for climate change. Ultimately, however, efforts to reduce the vulnerability of Aboriginal Canadians to climate change and intervene to prevent, reduce, and manage climate-sensitive health outcomes, will fail unless the broader determinants of socio-economic and health inequality are addressed.     

环境与健康的评估问题和空间分析

评估环境污染对人民健康影响的研究需要结合空间，时间和统计分析，并吸引不同学科背景的研究人员合作研究，可是，在这个研究领域内，最重要的问题是研究结论的不可靠性程度很高，不同的研究方法会导致不同的结论，一个有系统的研究架构拥有不同的空间分析方法将会减少结论的可疑程度，有效的环保政策是需要可靠的研究成果，文中首先介绍在环境与健康的评估研究领域的四大重要问题，指出这项研究需要这项研究需要空间分析和地理信息系统方法，从而提出一个空间分析的研究框架和内裹的方法，通过路易斯安纳州的一个污染地点和肿瘤发病率关系研究实例，指出这项研究领域的各种问题和空间分析架构的重要性。     

湖北省百岁人口分布与长寿区自然环境背景

基于人口普查数据,运用ArcGIS 空间分析以及SPSS 数理统计方法,对湖北省百岁人口分布与相对长寿区的自然环境背景进行研究,结果表明：过去50 a 来,湖北省百岁人口数量不断增加,百岁人口比率不断提高,但其百岁人口总数在全国的占比一直低于人口总数的占比,百岁人口比率与全国平均水平的差距越来越大;县域百岁人口比率空间差异明显,鄂北岗地稳居前茅,鄂西南山地、江汉平原、鄂东南丘陵百岁人口比率增长相对迅速;百岁人口重心向东南迁移并向省域几何中心和总人口重心靠近。湖北省的相对长寿区包括29 个县域,主要分布在鄂北岗地和江汉平原外缘的平原丘陵交错带,其自然环境背景是：气候温和、夏无酷暑、冬无严寒、雨量适中、阳光充足、空气流动性好、海拔较低、地形平缓,土壤中富含钼、锰、锌等微量元素。