Arsenic in Drinking Water and Bladder Cancer: Comparison between Studies Based on Cancer Registry and Death Certificates

Associations between arsenic in drinking water and bladder cancer in an area along the southwest coast of Taiwan have been documented for decades. Several ecologic studies were conducted to assess the dose-response relationships. Some of them used the National Cancer Registry Program to identify cancer cases, and some used death certificates. Whereas the cancer registry collects information on all patients no matter if they died of bladder cancer or not, the case ascertainment might be incomplete due to the fact that reporting of cases is not mandatory. Reporting of death, on the other hand, is strictly enforced by law, but patients who did not die of bladder cancer might not be identified. In order to assess the problems with both approaches, we conducted a study using both case identification mechanisms. A total of 243 townships with measurements of arsenic in drinking water were included in the analysis of cancer registry data, and death certificates were collected from 10 of those townships. In both analyses, the same measurements of arsenic made by the mercuric bromide stain method were adopted. Due to limitation of the method, all levels below 0.04mg L^–1 were combined as a single exposure category. The results were very much alike; both approaches detected statistically significant associations between high arsenic levels in drinking water (above 0.64mg L^–1) and occurrence of bladder cancer but did not find such associations for arsenic exposures at lower levels.     

The Relationship Between Exposure to Arsenic Concentrations in Drinking Water and the Development of Skin Lesions in Farmers from Inner Mongolia, China

Associations between the concentration of arsenic naturally occurring in drinking water and the development of skin lesions in people have been documented for some years at various locations around the world. Data on the exposure-response relationship between concentrations of arsenic in drinking water and prevalence of skin lesions in farmers from five locations in Inner Mongolia, China have been collected from the original publications and re-analysed together as a meta-study. The calculated data show a positive linear exposure-response relationship without a threshold. The reasons for this linear correlation are discussed and compared with the data from Xinjiang, another arsenism area located in a different geographical area of China. Here a different relationship was recorded that involved a threshold concentration before skin lesions developed. The significance of these two different exposure-response scenarios is discussed.     

基于MODIS时序数据北回归线(云南段)地区植被物候时空变化及其对气候响应分析

植被物候作为自然界规律性、周期性事件,对开展全球气候变化、植被长势观测等研究具有重要价值。以北回归线(云南段)穿过的县域为研究区,基于长时间序列MODIS EVI(Enhanced Vegetation Index,EVI)、土地利用类型和气候因子数据,采用S-G滤波、动态阈值、相关分析等方法分析19 a(2001—2019年)间植被物候的时空分布特征及其对水热因子的响应。结果表明,(1)海拔和地势起伏在物候地域分异中作用显著,植被物候存在明显的垂直地带性分布特征。山地与河谷、坝子、低海拔区的物候值差异较大,山地地区的植被生长季开始期(Start of Season,SOS)在192—240 d,生长季结束期(End of Season,EOS)在次年144—192 d,生长季长度(Length of Season,LOS)为272—304 d;河谷、坝子、东部低海拔地区的植被SOS在80—112 d,EOS在337至次年17 d,LOS在224—256 d。(2)19 a间植被物候年际变化总体特征为SOS显著提前(R²=0.51,P=0.001<0.05),平均提前1.14 d·(10 a)^?1;EOS推迟(R²=0.01,P=0.756>0.05),平均推迟0.07 d·(10 a)^?1;LOS显著延长(R²=0.47,P=0.001<0.05),平均延长1.07 d·(10 a)^?1。(3)不同植被类型的物候期及其变化趋势不同,研究区森林植被生长期最长,草地次之,耕地最短;19 a间SOS、EOS、LOS变化最大的分别是常绿阔叶林(?1.68 d·(10 a)^?1)、耕地(1.25 d·(10 a)^?1)、木本热带稀树草原(1.28 d·(10 a)^?1)。(4)水热组合对植被生长影响显著,河谷、坝子、东部低海拔地区的植被SOS、EOS分别主要受2月降水(负相关)和4月气温(正相关)、9月降水和气温(正相关)影响,山地地区植被SOS、EOS分别主要受6月降水(正相关)和5月气温(正相关)、5月降水(正相关)和4月气温(正相关)影响。