Combined and Relative Effect Levels of Perceived Risk, Knowledge, Optimism, Pessimism, and Social Trust on Anxiety among Inhabitants Concerning Living on Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil

Quality of life in retired workers with past exposure to asbestos

BACKGROUND

Asbestos causes cancer and non-cancerous lung and pleural diseases and can also have a negative psychological impact but little is known about its effect on health-related quality of life.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study is to describe the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of retired men with a history of occupational exposure to asbestos and examine factors linked with low HRQoL.

METHODS

Retired male workers of the French Asbestos-Related Disease Cohort (ARDCO) completed self-questionnaires that included SF-36v2 and HAD scales, questions about their perception of asbestos (perceived dangers and level of exposure, expectations to fall ill, or knowing someone who is) and their respiratory symptoms. Asbestos exposure was assessed by industrial hygienists. A perceived risk score was created using factorial analysis. Multivariable regressions were performed for all SF-36 subscales.

RESULTS

A total of 1266 of 2075 questionnaires (61%) were returned complete and included in analysis. After adjustment for potential confounders, an increase in perceived risk score resulted in a decrease in physical component summary score (PCS), up to 10.7 points (p = 0.048) and in mental component summary score (MCS) (p = 0.044). Presence of respiratory symptoms was also associated with significantly decreased PCS and MCS (p < 0.001). Poor HRQoL was linked to higher perceived risk score with p ≤ 0.01 for all SF-36 dimensions. Asbestos exposure assessed by an expert was not associated with any outcome.

CONCLUSIONS

All dimensions of HRQoL appear to be affected by the perceived risk of incurring asbestos-related disease and respiratory symptoms.

Community resilience and anxiety among Chinese older adults during COVID-19: The moderating role of trust in local government

The worldwide spread of COVID-19 has resulted in an enormous threat to public health, causing global panic, especially older adults suffering severe anxiety due to their vulnerability. With a questionnaire survey on 213 Chinese older adults in April 2020, we examined the role of community resilience in protecting older adults from anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic, and simultaneously considered the moderating role of trust in local government. The results indicated that community resilience was negatively associated with older adults' anxiety, and this association was weakened for older adults with low trust in local government. This study has implications for intervention designs that combine resilient factors related to communities and local governments to relieve older adults' anxiety during the pandemic. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Intolerance of Uncertainty and Tendency to Worry as Mediators Between Trust in Institutions and Social Support and Fear of Coronavirus and Consequences of the Pandemic

The aim of this article is to formulate and test a model integrating cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) findings regarding the importance of intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and tendency to worry with findings regarding the importance of trust in institutions, other people, and social support. We assumed that trust in institutions, other people, and social support reduce fear of the coronavirus and of the consequences of the pandemic in a direct way, but also indirectly by enhancing one’s sense of control and diminishing the tendency to worry which, further, attenuates fear of the coronavirus and fear of the consequences of the pandemic. An online survey was conducted among the Serbian general population (N = 1409, 78.1% female, M = 38.82, SD = 9.24) at the end of April 2020, which included questionnaires on fear of SARS-CoV-2, fear of consequences of the pandemic, social support, trust in other people and trust in political and health institutions. The model has been validated by data from our study suggesting that it represents one possible pattern of interrelationships between social and intrapsychic variables in the pandemic situation. Results also showed that the COVID-19 related fears are related more strongly to intrapsychic variables – IU and tendency to worry – than to variables operationalizing social context relevant for coping with pandemic at the social and individual level.

Optimism in Portuguese Adolescents: The Role of Anxiety and Positive Affect

The higher prevalence of anxiety and depression disorders in children and adolescents and the persistence of these disorders in adulthood show how important it is to investigate these concepts. Simultaneously, if we better understand the antecedents of, for example, anxiety, it will be more advantageous to define and implement some programs specifically for those ages. Like in adults, some investigations propose to study the effect of anxiety on optimism on samples of children or adolescents. In this study, we analyze the relations between anxiety, optimism, and affect in a sample of 155 students (mean age = 12 years). We took a particular interest in investigating the direction of influence between anxiety and optimism. The results showed a positive association between positive affect and anxious coping, and predictive power of these variables in explaining optimism, which seems to result from a contribution equivalent to that described on the two-factor structure of affectivity.

Who Is the Most Vulnerable to Anxiety at the Beginning of the COVID-19 Outbreak in China? A Cross-Sectional Nationwide Survey

(1) Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has not only changed people’s health behavior, but also induced a psychological reaction among the public. Research data is needed to develop scientific evidence-driven strategies to reduce adverse mental health effects. The aims of this study are to evaluate the anxiety reaction of Chinese people and the related determinants during the earliest phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Evidence from this survey will contribute to a targeted reference on how to deliver psychological counseling service in the face of outbreaks. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional, population-based online survey was conducted from 28 January to 5 February 2020 using an open online questionnaire for people aged 18 years or above, residing in China and abroad. The socio-demographic information of the respondents was collected, and anxiety scores were calculated. A direct standardization method was used to standardize anxiety scores and a general linear model was used to identify associations between some factors (e.g., sex, age, education, etc.) and anxiety scores. (3) Results: A total of 10,946 eligible participants were recruited in this study, with a completion rate of 98.16% (10,946/11,151). The average anxiety score was 6.46 ± 4.12 (total score = 15); women (6.86 ± 4.11) scored higher than men (5.67 ± 4.04). The age variable was inversely and significantly associated with the anxiety score (β = −2.12, 95% CI: −2.47–−1.78). People possessing higher education (β = 1.15, 95% CI: 0.88–1.41) or a higher awareness of cognitive risk (β = 4.89, 95% CI: 4.33–5.46) reported higher levels of anxiety. There was a close association between poor subjective health and anxiety status (β = 2.83, 95% CI: 2.58–3.09). With the increase of confidence, the anxiety of the population exhibited a gradual decline (β = −2.45, 95% CI: −2.77–−2.13). (4) Conclusion: Most people were vulnerable to anxiety during the earliest phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Younger women, individuals with high education, people with high cognitive risk and subjective poor health were vulnerable to anxiety during the epidemic. In addition, increasing confidence in resisting this pandemic is a protective determinant for individuals to develop anxiety. The findings suggest that policymakers adopt psychosocial interventions to reduce anxiety during the pandemic.

Perceived Risk and Intentions to Practice Health Protective Behaviors in a Mining-Impacted Region

Effective risk communication strategies are critical to reducing lead exposure in mining-impacted communities. Understanding the strength of the associations between perceived risk and individuals' behavioral intentions to protect their health is important for developing these strategies. We conducted a survey within three communities of northern Idaho, USA (n = 306) in or near a Superfund Megasite with legacy mining contamination. Survey data were used to test a theoretical model based on the Health Belief Model. Respondents had higher intentions to practice health protective behaviors when they perceived the risk of lead contamination as severe and recognized the benefits of practicing health protective behaviors. Women reported higher behavioral intentions than men, but age and mining affiliation were not significantly associated with behavioral intentions. Although managing lead hazards in communities impacted by mining is challenging due to widely distributed contamination, effective health risk messages, paired with remediation, are powerful tools to protect the health and safety of residents.

Plant species diversity for vegetation restoration in manganese tailing wasteland

Vegetation restoration is one of the most effective measures to restore degraded ecosystem in mining wasteland. A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of some site treatments' three different approaches on the benefits of selective vegetation in the manganese mine. Three different approaches included (1) exposed tailings, the control treatment (tailing site); (2) soil covering of 10-cm thickness (external-soil site), and (3) soil covering of 10-cm thickness, soil ameliorating (adding fowl dung), and seeding propagation of Cynodon dactylon (Linn.) Pers. (rehabilitation site). The results indicated that 18 herb species were taken from 8 families and 4 woody plants in three sites after 1 year. After 3 years, 29 species from 14 families were observed in 3 sites. Meanwhile, compared with tailing site, the plant species of rehabilitation site was more than tailing site, and the plant abundance of external-soil site was similar to rehabilitation site. It was worthy to be mentioned that the plant species of external-soil site and rehabilitation site had a better effect on the plant community coverage of herb layer as compared with tailing site. In summary, the plant species of rehabilitation site had the most species diversity and could be recommended as the ve-restoration modes in manganese tail wasteland.

Pollution characteristics of surface runoff under different restoration types in manganese tailing wasteland

A great deal of manganese and associated heavy metals (such as Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, etc.) was produced in manganese mining, smelting, and other processes and weathering and leaching of waste slag, which entered rainwater runoff by different means under the action of rainfall runoff. It caused heavy metal pollution in water environment to surrounding areas, and then environmental and human health risks were becoming increasingly serious. In the Xiangtan manganese mine, we studied the characteristics of nutritional pollutants and heavy metals by using the method of bounded runoff plots on the manganese tailing wasteland after carrying out some site treatments using three different approaches, such as (1) exposed tailings, the control treatment (ET), (2) external-soil amelioration and colonization of Cynodon dactylon (Linn.) Pers. turf (EC), and (3) external-soil amelioration and seedling seeding propagation of Cynodon dactylon (Linn.) Pers. (ES). The research showed that the maximum runoff occurred in 20,140,712 rainfall events, and the basic law of runoff was EC area > ET area > ES area in the same rainfall event. The concentration of total suspended solids (TSS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of three ecological restoration areas adopted the following rule: ET area > EC area > ES area. Nitrogen (N) existed mainly in the form of water soluble while phosphorus (P) was particulate. The highest concentrations of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) were 11.57 ± 2.99 mg/L in the EC area and 1.42 ± 0.56 mg/L in the ET area, respectively. Cr, Ni, Pb, Zn, Mn, and Cu in surface runoff from three restoration types all exceeded the class V level of the environmental quality standard for surface water except Cu in EC and ES areas. Pollution levels of heavy metals in surface runoff from three restoration areas are shown as follows: ET area > EC area > ES area. There was a significant positive correlation between TSS and runoff, COD, and TP. And this correlation was significant between total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), TN, total dissolved phosphorus (TDP), and TP. The six heavy metals (Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Mn, and Cr) in surface runoff of different ecological restoration areas were strongly related to each other, and were significantly related to the TSS.