Epidemiological research on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases is a broad field of study with renewed validity in the face of social changes and new threats. The spatio-temporal distribution of diseases is central to the knowledge of their development, transmission, spread, and dynamics.New technologies and geographic information system (GIS) analysis together with highly structured mathematical and statistical techniques have a special utility in describing and analyzing the incidence of infectious diseases. Specifically, Bayesian inference methods allow the analysis of models with complex and flexible structures suitable to represent the diverse characteristics present in each geographical environment and disease.Tuberculosis, hepatitis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), influenza, malaria, dengue, zika, and other vector-borne diseases are a constant concern for health authorities, practitioners, and patients. A variety of environmental, climatic, and socio-economic factors underlie their spatio-temporal patterns. In addition, factors such as changes in climate, habits, or land use intervene and complicate the understanding of these processes.This Special Issue compiles contributions on the spatio-temporal analysis of infectious diseases and related themes. The collection of studies presented in this Special Issue contributes to a better understanding of which methods are currently available related with space and time in the data analysis of infectious diseases. These articles provide novel insights into the interaction between space and time in the context of each specific infectious disease, providing new perspectives in the understanding of these pathologies and their extent. A total of 11 manuscripts ,9,10,11 The different works corresponding to these articles were carried out in different geographical areas of several countries: China ,6,7,8,10This volume contains a blend of papers focusing on the modeling, inference, and prediction of the behavior of infectious diseases. The scope of applications covers a wide range of topics. Several infectious diseases are addressed by studying their differentiated characteristics and relating them to relevant explanatory variables. The list of diseases studied includes typhoid and paratyphoid fevers ; Middle While the contributions collected in this Special Issue are encouraging, it is evident that more discussion and research is needed to improve our understanding of the complexity of modeling infectious diseases in the space-time context. I hope that this Special Issue will stimulate and promote new action and research on this important topic.


AGHE’s Clark Tibbits Award was established in 1980 and named for an architect of the field of gerontological education. The award is given each year to an individual or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of gerontology and geriatrics education. The Clark Tibbits Award lecture will feature an address by the 2019 award recipient, David Burdick, PhD, of Stockton University. Hiram J. Friedsam was the professor, co-founder, and director of the Center for Studies in Aging and dean of the School of Community Service at the University of North Texas. Dr. Friedsam was an outstanding teacher, researcher, colleague, and mentor to students, faculty, and administrators, as well as a past president of AGHE. The purpose of this award is to recognize those who emulate Dr. Friedsam’s excellence in mentorship. The Hiram J. Friedsam Award lecture will feature an address by the 2019 award recipient, Bradley Fisher, PhD, of Missouri State University.


Date: April 7–11, 2019Venue: Grand Walkerhill Seoul, 177 Walkerhill-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 04963, Koreahttp://wfme2019.orgHomepage: Online Registration Due: March 29, 2019The World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) was established in 1972 by the World Medical Association (WMA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It is a worldwide organization dedicated to improving the quality of medical education. It also has 6 regional associations of medical education, which correspond to the same areas as the 6 regional organizations of the WHO. Korea is affiliated with the Western Pacific Association for Medical Education, the association of the Western Pacific region, as part of the WHO’s Western Pacific region. The current president of the WFME is Dr. David Gordon, a graduate of the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, who has served as president of the University of Manchester School of Medicine, president of the Medical School Council, and president of the Association of Medical Schools in Europe.The purpose of the WFME is to provide an international forum for improving the quality of medical education. Its major achievements were the ‘Edinburgh Declaration’ in 1988, which became a watershed of medical education reforms internationally, followed by the ‘World Summit and Recommendation in Edinburgh’ in 1993. Subsequently, reforms in medical education based on the ‘Recommendation’ have been widespread throughout the world.The 2003 World Conference of the WFME in Copenhagen was particularly significant. Medical educators from all over the world attended this conference, after which the WFME published accreditation criteria and standards for basic medical education, postgraduate medical education, and continuing professional development. Since then, it has been adopted as the standard for the evaluation of medical colleges around the world. In addition, the accreditation criteria for postgraduate medical education have been adopted by the World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians (WONCA) as a basis for their course programs. The WONCA has already launched an international accreditation program for training courses in family medicine. In 2015, the WFME moved from its Copenhagen office to its current location in Ferney-Voltaire near Geneva.Currently, the WFME Executive Committee consists of the former president, president, vice-president, presidents of 6 regional organizations, and representatives from the WHO, WMA, Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations, and Junior Doctor Network, which function as medical education associations for all physicians throughout the world.First, it recognizes institutions in each country that work for the accreditation of medical schools.Second, it pursues initiatives to enhance all 3 stages of medical education: basic medical education, postgraduate medical education, and continuing professional development.Third, it publishes the World Directory of Medical Schools and maintains its contents.The WFME is playing an increasingly important role in providing institutional recognition for medical education accreditation institutions in each country. For example, the Korea Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation was the fourth-recognized national institution in the world in 2015 by WFME. It has been designated as the official medical evaluation system of Korea by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea.The WFME has traditionally held academic conferences on an irregular basis, approximately every 10 years. The most recent one was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2003. Lund University, the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and the governments of Sweden and Denmark provided budgetary support to the Secretariat of the WFME. In addition, the United Nations, the WHO, the UNESCO , and the WMA cooperated with each other to ensure that the WFME Conference was successfully held in 2003. More than 700 medical education experts from 75 countries participated in the 2003 conference. Approximately 30 professors from medical schools in Korea participated. After the conference, they established the basis of the accreditation system of medical schools in Korea, which has been implemented since then.The 2013 World Conference was planned to be held in Malmö, Sweden in 2013; however, due to the economic crisis in Europe that started in Greece in 2013, it was canceled.The WFME has recently been moving away from the United States and Europe-centered organizations to promote medical education development from a broader and more global perspective. The WFME has expressed interest in Korea’s economic growth and the development of medicine in Korea; furthermore, it confirmed the plan to host the next academic conference in Korea at the WFME Implementation Conference held in May 2017.The WFME Conference has never been held outside Europe and the United States. In this context, holding the WFME Conference in Korea is expected to open a new horizon for medical education in Korea and Asia in the 21st century. I am confident that it will be a good opportunity to promote Korea’s international status, as well as to raise awareness of the leading role that East Asia plays in medical education. In particular, the conference is expected to include an event that will provide a breakthrough opportunity for improving the education of residents in Asia. In addition, I believe that it will serve as a very useful opportunity to improve the level of medical education in many countries through its coverage of various content areas, such as medical education evaluation accreditation, licensing examinations, and continuing education.


Scientifically justifiable spatial structure can not only promote the efficient use of regional resources, but can also effectively avoid “urban diseases”, such as traffic congestion, housing shortage, resource scarcity, and so on. It is the “regulator” and “booster” of regional development. Firstly, this paper measures the spatial structure of the Yangtze River Economic Belt from the four dimensions of scale distribution, central structure, spatial connection, and compactness: Gini coefficient of urban scale, urban primacy, regional economic linkage strength, and spatial compactness. Secondly, the optimized Super-Slack Based Measure-Undesirable model is used to evaluate the sustainable development status of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Finally, a sustainable development correlation analysis model based on regional spatial structure is constructed. Based on the overall perspective of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the individual perspective of 11 provinces and cities, the relationship between the spatial structure of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and sustainable development is analyzed. It is found that the impact of the four spatial structure indicators on the sustainable development level of the Yangtze River Economic Zone is relatively stable in five different periods. The ranking results are as follows: Gini coefficient of urban scale > urban primacy > regional economic linkage strength > spatial compactness. The Yangtze River Economic Zone covers 11 provinces and cities , accounts for more than 40% of China’s population and total economic output, and occupies 21% of China’s land area [In recent years, the advantages of rapid development previously achieved by low costs of labor as induced by the large population, resource consumption, and environmental degradation are gradually disappearing. However, traditional socioeconomic development has not yet fundamentally changed, which has resulted in the slowdown of economic growth in the YREB, leading to a developmental bottleneck. Simultaneously, problems such as resource shortages, environmental pollution, ecological destruction, and excess capacity of traditional industries are emerging, which ultimately threaten the sustainable development of all provinces and municipalities and even the YREB . On the Regional spatial structure is an important factor affecting the input–output efficiency of various factors of production in the region and is the key to sustainable development. A spatial structure organized in a scientific and rational way can not only optimize the allocation of various factors of production and achieve the best use of goods, but also achieve complementary advantages through the construction of inter-city networks, resulting in a multiplicity of outputs . On the On the other hand, research results based on empirical analysis are relatively few. Scholars such as Fallah , Lee andThe research on the relationship between spatial structure and regional development has the following characteristics and trends: First, when discussing which spatial structure can promote sustainable regional socio-economic development, results are very different. Secondly, there are relatively few quantitative studies on the relationship between spatial structure and sustainable development. Thirdly, the existing research on spatial structure and regional development is based on the perspective of a certain spatial structure. Few studies on the relationship between spatial structure and regional development are based on a variety of spatial structures and carry out comparative analyses.Summarizing the existing research results on the impact of spatial structure on regional socio-economic development, this paper chooses four regional spatial structure indicators, namely, the Gini coefficient of urban scale, urban primacy, regional economic linkage strength, and spatial compactness, from four dimensions of scale distribution, central structure, spatial connection, and compactness to characterize the spatial structure of the 11 provinces and cities of the YREB. Thus, it can reflect not only the spatial distribution and combination of cities in the region, but also the relationship network between cities .G) is calculated as follows:S represents the total GDP of the whole region, n represents the number of cities, and T represents the absolute sum of the difference of GDP scale between each city in the region [Based on the existing research results and the development status of the 11 provinces and cities in the YREB, the Gini coefficient of urban scale is selected to measure whether a reasonable urban hierarchy has been formed within the region. The Gini coefficient is first used to reflect the gap between rich and poor in a country or region. Marshall applied the Gini coefficient to regional development to reflect disparities between cities within a region and so it is also called the Gini coefficient of urban scale . The Gine region .S1, S2, and S3 represent the urban primacy calculated by the two-city index method, the four-city index method and the eleven-city index method respectively. P1, P2, and P3...P11 represent the population size of the first city to the eleventh city respectively. Because in many practical applications, the four-city index method and the eleven-city index method do not show obvious advantages, so this paper still uses the two-city index method to calculate the urban primacy of 11 provinces and cities in the YREB.According to the growth pole theory put forward by Perroux, regional economic growth can spread outward from nodes, and then drive regional development. Therefore, the radiation effect of regional central cities on surrounding cities and regions is also the key research content of regional spatial structure. Based on central structure, this paper employs urban primacy to measure the radiation and influence of the central city in the region. Jefferson defined urban primacy as the ratio of the population size of the first city to that of the second city . With thijr denotes the regional economic linkage strength between two cities iP and jP denote the number of urban employment and iG and jG denote the GDP, and ijD denotes the straight-line distance between the two cities of a given region.According to the theory of spatial interaction, cities in the region are not static and closed, but dynamic and open. There are intricate connection networks among cities in a given region through convection, radiation, and transmission. The interconnection between cities in the region is the concrete manifestation of the flow of various factors of production in the region, and also the internal motive force for the formation and reorganization of regional spatial structure. Among many regional spatial linkages, the importance of economic linkages is most prominent. Therefore, considering the complexity of regional spatial linkages and the importance of economic linkages, this paper refers to relevant research results to represent regional spatial linkages by regional economic linkages . The meaijR is the average regional economic linkage strength between two cities, iP and jP is the number of the employed within a given region, iG and jG represent the GDP between two cities, ijD is the highway distance between the two cities and ijk is the contribution rate of city i to ijr.Incorporating lessons learned from other related studies, this study improves the above model following two crucial aspects . FirstlyI represents the spatial compactness index of the region and S represents the total area of the region [Spatial compactness refers to the degree of spatial concentration of developmental factors such as towns, enterprises, factories, funds, facilities, technology, and expertise in the process of regional development and is the basis of promoting regional intensive and efficient development. Good spatial compactness is the concentrated expression of maximizing regional comprehensive benefits. It can promote the efficient utilization of resources, high spatial output and high-density development. However, too high or too low spatial compactness is not conducive to healthy regional development which can lead to traffic congestion, an excessive concentration of industry and population, and other negative effects. Compact cities are a form of city that promotes the sustainable development of a city from the perspective of the city itself. It is one of the representative theories to promote the sustainable development of cities, which is based on the premise of curbing urban expansion, and through the centralized setting of public facilities, reducing traffic distance, and reducing pollution emissions. Similarly, compact regions promote sustainable development by promoting sustainable development in multiple cities. Compact regions are more resource-saving, high-density and high-efficiency urban architecture as compared to more decentralized areas. As the name suggests, the compactness of regional space index is used to, of course, measure the compactness of regional space. Here, it is expressed as a ratio of the total amount of regional spatial connection to the total area of regional urban areas. As previously described, the most common and important regional spatial connection is economic linkages. Therefore, we use the ratio of total regional economic linkages to the total area of regional urban areas to express the regional spatial compactness. The equation is as follows:e region .To sum up, the Gini coefficient of urban scale based on the dimension of scale distribution reflects the disparity among urban scales in the region, and then is used to measure whether a reasonable urban hierarchy has been formed within the region. The urban primacy index based on the central structure dimension reflects the degree of aggregation of regional comprehensive development elements in the central city, and then is used to measure the radiation and influence of the central city in the region. The index of regional economic linkage strength based on spatial connection dimension reflects the circulation of various factors of production among the cities in the region, and then is used to measure the degree of interconnection among the cities in the region. The spatial compactness index based on spatial compactness dimension reflects the spatial concentration of development factors such as towns, enterprises, factories, funds, facilities, technology and talents in the region, and then is used to measure the spatial compactness of the region.k is the evaluation unit, x, gy and by are the input value, expected output value and non-expected output value respectively; Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is an effective, non-parametric method to solve comprehensive evaluation problems characterized by multi-input, multi-output, and complex systems. Based on relative efficiency, a mathematical programming model is used to evaluate a decision-making unit (DMU) with multiple inputs and outputs from the perspective of inputs and outputs. DEA can eliminate the influence arising from the dimensions of both subjective and objective factors. While measuring the relative efficiency of each DMU, DEA can identify reasons and magnitudes of inefficiency, in addition to providing a basis for improving DMU efficiency. Insofar of these advantages, DEA requires that the product of the number of input and output indicators be less than the number of DMUs, and that the number of input and output indicators be less than twice the total number of DMUs. That is, ,2×m+q<n . If the ,2×m+q<n :(6)minρher DMUs . Based oThe variable meanings of the above model are consistent with Formula 6.Based on International Urban Sustainability Indicators List (IUSIL) and the 2011 McKinsey’s Sustainable Development Index in addition to other relevant literature, and following the three principles of target system design , this paper establishes a comprehensive evaluation index system for sustainable development of the YREB, which includes input(X), expected output(Y), and non-expected output(Y) , as showWhile the most common correlation analysis methods in mathematical statistics mainly include correlation, factor, and principal component analysis, the use of the above methods, however, requires a large amount of relevant data as a prerequisite. Therefore, the grey relational analysis method to overcome this shortcoming has been applied more and more in cases of “small sample, poor information”. Grey relational analysis is a comparative factor analysis method which aims to quantitatively describe the relative changes between the observed sequences in the development of the system to determine whether there is a close relationship between the sequences. Through a comparative analysis, the degree of the relationship between the impact and the target is ranked. If the two observation sequences have similar change characteristics, it shows that they have a greater degree of correlation, and vice versa. The main result of this model is to determine the primary–secondary, superior–inferior relationship among the various influencing factors .Based on different research perspectives, the measurement results of the grey relational model can be divided into a narrow relational degree and a generalized relational degree . The genThe grey absolute relational degree is calculated by constructing a grey relational model. The grey absolute correlation degree measures the similarity between the four spatial structure indices and the sustainable development level in the grey correlation model.Assuming that the length of The grey relational model is constructed to calculate the relative grey relational degree. The grey relative correlation degree calculates the correlation degree of the change rate between the four spatial structure indexes and the level of sustainable development in the grey correlation model. According to the degrees of both absolute and relative grey correlations obtained from the first step and the second step, the comprehensive grey correlation degree can be calculated. The grey comprehensive correlation degree is the calculation of the weighted average of grey absolute correlation degree and grey relative correlation degree, which can reflect the similarity degree between sequences. At the same time, it also reflects the proximity of the sequence to the change rate of the starting point and can more comprehensively represent the degree of close association between the sequences. The calculation formula is as follows:Statistical data is from the nine provinces and two cities of the YREB  over the 2006–2015 period. Because some cities had some adjustment to their administrative periods during this period, to ensure the unity of the study, this paper carries out the following treatment: Bijie and Tongren areas in Guizhou Province were changed to prefecture-level cities in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Before that period, there were no statistics available on Bijie and Tongren, so they were eliminated. As a result, the study area concerns 108 urban areas at or above the prefecture level. Finally, the study area involves 108 urban units at or above the prefecture level. In 2011, the Chinese government abolished Chaohu City, Anhui Province, and classified Lujiang County, Wuwei County, Hanshan County, and He County under their original jurisdictions as Hefei City, Wuhu City, and Ma’anshan City, respectively. Therefore, based on the administrative division of Anhui Province in 2011, this paper adjusts the division scope of Hefei City, Wuhu City, and Ma’anshan City. Data from 108 cities at or above the prefecture level are directly extracted from the 2007–2016 China Urban Statistics, Energy Statistics, Environmental Statistics yearbooks, in addition to the relevant statistical yearbooks of the 11 provinces and municipalities. Some of these cities may have data gaps and these are filled by using linear interpolation.According to the determined spatial structure index and the obtained statistical data, this paper first estimates the spatial structure of the 11 provinces and cities in the YREB according to Equations (1)–(5). Based on the comprehensive evaluation index system of regional sustainable development and combined with the derived Super-SBM-Undesirable evaluation model, the sustainable development status of the 11 provinces and cities in the YREB is evaluated. Based on the grey correlation model, the sustainable development level of each province and city is taken as the reference sequence, and the spatial structure index of four major regions of each province and city is taken as the comparison sequence, and the correlation degree of each comparison sequence and reference sequence is calculated by the incremental window length method. Four spatial structure indicators are ranked according to correlation degrees, and the relationship between the spatial structure and sustainable development of the YREB is quantitatively analyzed. The influence of the four spatial structure indicators of the YREB on regional sustainable development is discussed in depth.As mentioned above, results are displayed below in According to the grey comprehensive correlation degree of sustainable development level and four spatial structures in different periods of the YREB listed in Results show that based on equilibrium dimension, the Gini coefficient of urban scale is the most important spatial structural factor affecting YREB sustainable development. That is, in an ideal, healthy area, cities are neither too tightly packed nor too dispersed. Only when reasonable hierarchies are formed and the various factors of production and the division of labor is evenly distributed throughout the different cities in a given region can we improve overall output levels, narrow inter-city gaps and realize sustainable development of a region. From another point of view, based on the perspective of regional structure, in order to promote YREB sustainable development and ensure the continuity of a clear river, it is necessary to strengthen core cities, improve large and medium-sized cities, further develop small and medium-sized cities, and foster the growth of backward areas. Simultaneously, we should build a clear, scientific, and rational urban hierarchy system, strengthen the regional division of labor and cooperation, promote the optimal allocation of resources, and realize the balanced development of the YREB.Second only to the Gini coefficient of urban scale, urban primacy based on the central structural development is the spatial structural factor which affects YREB sustainable development. According to the growth pole theory, regional economic growth diffuses outward from nodes, promotes the circulation and diffusion of production factors, which then drives regional development. In the process of regional development, the agglomeration of various factors of production to the first city can produce economies of agglomeration and scale. On the one hand, it can save transportation costs and minimize energy consumption, effectively utilize and allocate limited resources, and form a more effective market and closer industrial correlation effect. On the other hand, it is also conducive to the spillover of knowledge and technology and the improvement of the efficiency of infrastructure and land use. However, if it agglomerates excessively, it will bring about “urban diseases”, such as traffic congestion, housing shortage, and scarcity of resources, which will offset the economic benefits of various factors of production agglomeration to a certain extent. Therefore, cultivating regional growth poles and promoting regional spatial links and diffusion in the YREB are the key steps in promoting regional sustainable development.The spatial compactness index based on the regional connection dimension and spatial compactness index based on the spatial compactness dimension are also important spatial structural factors affecting the sustainable development of the YREB. The interconnection between cities is the internal driving force for the emergence and development of the external form of the regional spatial structure. With the rapid development of economies, the links between cities in the YREB are getting closer and closer. Through convection, radiation, and transmission, the vertical and horizontal links among cities form a complex network. The effects of polarization and radiation, division of labor and cooperation, and system enhancement can be obtained through the agglomeration of various factors of production in the region and the flow between cities, thus enhancing the overall efficiency of the whole region. As compared with the decentralized areas, more compact areas are resource-saving, high-density, and high-efficiency facets of urban architecture. The compactness of space is the basis of promoting the intensive and efficient development of the region. A moderately compact urban system based on the premise of curbing urban expansion can centralize public facilities, effectively reduce traffic distance and pollution emissions, thus promoting the efficient use of resources, high spatial output, and high-density development. However, an excessively compact space can also lead to uneconomical agglomeration, such as traffic congestion, excessive concentration of industry and population. Therefore, in the next stage, the YREB needs to plan a scientific transportation network, optimize the spatial diffusion axis, build a transportation system with distinct characteristics of “high efficiency, green and environmental protection”, and maximize the reduction of operating costs, so as to strengthen the links between the cities and towns in the YREB and maximize economic benefits. At the same time, in order to promote the sustainable development of the YREB, we must adhere to the idea of high-quality urbanization, curb the unrestrained expansion of cities, adhere to the concept of intensive development, realize land, space, population, and industrial intensive development, and realize the new urbanization development path of intensive use of space, industrial intensive development, and resource intensive recycling.As shown in On the other hand, the ranking results of the 11 provinces and cities in the YREB are relatively stable. They show that in the past development process, the relationship between the spatial structure of provinces and cities and regional sustainable development has remained relatively stable. Of the 55 ranking results, only five changed successively. They are: The period of 2006–2013 in Guizhou Province, the period of 2006–2015 in Sichuan Province, the period of 2006–2015 in Jiangxi Province, the period of 2006–2014 in Shanghai, and the period of 2006–2012 in Yunnan Province. Among them, the period of 2006–2013 in Guizhou and 2006–2015 in Sichuan Province changed from urban primacy > Gini coefficient of urban scale > regional economic linkage strength > spatial compactness to Gini coefficient of urban scale > urban primacy > regional economic linkage strength > spatial compactness. The Gini coefficient of urban scale has replaced the urban primacy as the most closely related spatial structure affecting the sustainable development of Guizhou Province and Sichuan Province. The focus of work has shifted to the construction of a reasonable urban hierarchy system. During the period of 2006–2015 in Jiangxi Province and 2006–2014 in Shanghai, the Gini coefficient of urban scale > urban primacy > regional economic linkage strength > spatial compactness changed to urban primacy > Gini coefficient of urban scale > regional economic linkage strength > spatial compactness. The most closely related factors of spatial structure change from the Gini coefficient of urban scale to urban primacy, and the focus of work shifts to fostering regional growth poles. During the period of 2006–2012, Yunnan Province changed from spatial compactness > regional economic linkage strength > urban primacy > Gini coefficient of urban scale to regional economic linkage strength > spatial compactness > Gini coefficient of urban scale > urban primacy. The regional economic linkage strength has become the most important factor affecting the spatial structure of sustainable development in Yunnan Province. The focus of work is to plan a scientific transportation network and strengthen regional linkages. Finally, in the past development process of Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Chongqing, the impact of spatial structure on regional sustainable development has not changed. From strength to weakness, the correlation is: Gini coefficient of urban scale > urban primacy > regional economic linkage strength > spatial compactness. In the next stage, in order to accelerate the sustainable development of these six provinces and cities, we should attach great importance to the balanced development of the region, rationally allocate various factors of production, and form a reasonable hierarchy and division of labor system in the region.A scientific and reasonable spatial structure can effectively improve the efficiency of regional development and is the “regulator” and “booster” to promote regional sustainable development. Based on the analysis of the relationship between spatial structure and sustainable development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, this paper puts forward four policy suggestions, namely, building a reasonable urban system, cultivating regional growth poles, strengthening regional linkages and promoting the high-quality development of regional urbanization, respectively, based on the four spatial structure indicators of Gini coefficient of urban scale, urban primacy, regional economic linkage strength and spatial compactness. In this way, we can rationally optimize and regulate the spatial structure of the YREB and by making the spatial interaction reach the best state, we can maximize the allocation of regional resources and spatial synergies, and accelerate the sustainable development of the YREB.Through the analysis of the relationship between the spatial structure and sustainable development of the YREB, it is found that on the one hand, the Gini coefficient of urban scale is the highest among the four spatial structure indicators and the overall sustainable development of the YREB. Based on this, the key step to promote the sustainable development of the YREB is to construct a reasonable urban hierarchy, strengthen the regional division of labor and cooperation, and realize the optimal allocation of resources. On the other hand, the Gini coefficient of urban scale is also the closest spatial structure factor affecting the sustainable development of Anhui, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Sichuan, and Chongqing. Therefore, based on the regional spatial structure to promote the sustainable development of these seven provinces and cities, it is also necessary to build a reasonable urban hierarchy system. To sum up, to construct a reasonable urban system in the YREB, firstly, when improving the urban system, the YREB should adhere to the principle of “expanding core cities, improving large and medium-sized cities, developing small and medium-sized cities, cultivating growth poles in backward areas, forming a scientific and rational urban hierarchy system with distinct levels”, and adhere to the planning pattern of “one axis, two wings, three poles and multiple points”. Secondly, the should strengthen the support to the four western provinces and cities. The government should allow the eastern and central regions to promote the development of the western region and actively guide the transfer of overcapacity industries from eastern to western regions. In view of the underdeveloped cities in the western region, the Chinese government should give some support in policy, capital, and technology, so as to narrow the gap between the 11 provinces and cities in the YREB and promote the optimization and regulation of the urban hierarchy system in the YREB through balanced development. Thirdly, a central government-led coordination mechanism should provide the necessary provincial linkages to allow isolated administrative departments and functional units to be amalgamated into a unified network, leading to the breakdown of administrative barriers, reductions in the cost of approval and improvements in operational efficiency. Fourthly, according to the current development situation of the YREB, the Chinese government should properly strengthen the investment of various production factors in some backward cities, promote the complementarity of advantages among cities by adjusting industrial structure, clarifying urban functions and highlighting urban advantages, enhance core competitiveness, and promote the balanced development of the region.Through the above correlation analysis, it was found overall, urban primacy and sustainable development in the YREB are highly correlated, where, for example, it is the closest spatial structure factor that affects the sustainable development of Jiangxi, Shanghai, and Zhejiang. According to the growth pole theory, regional economic growth diffuses from external nodes, driving the internal development of nearby cities. Therefore, cultivating regional growth poles is a key step in promoting the links and diffusion of various production factors. To cultivate the growth poles in the YREB, we can start from the following three points: First, adhere to the “one axis, two wings, three poles, multi-point” planning pattern. At the same time, relying on the Yangtze River Gold Waterway, all kinds of production factors incline to Shanghai, Wuhan, and Chongqing, so as to enhance the core competitiveness of the three major cities, actively participate in international cooperation and competition, and make them become a national and even international metropolis. And pay attention to the radiation effect of the three big cities, so as to promote the sustainable development of the YREB. Secondly, we should strengthen the core competitiveness of Nanjing, Hangzhou, Changsha, Nanchang, Kunming, Chengdu and other sub-core cities in the YREB. The infrastructure of these cities should be strengthened, their functions clearly identified and then improve the role radiation plays in secondary core cities to the surrounding small and medium-sized cities.According to the previous analysis of the relationship between the spatial structure and sustainable development, it is found that the strength of economic linkages is also highly correlated with sustainable development. Therefore, to promote sustainable development in the YREB, it is important to optimize transportation networks and construct them to be highly efficient and environmentally friendly, in addition to strengthening exchanges between cities and towns. It was also identified that the intensity of spatial connection is the spatial structural factor affecting sustainable development in Yunnan Province. Therefore, from the perspective of spatial structure, improving transportation and strengthening infrastructure and spatial connections among cities in the region all help to promote sustainable development.Optimizing and perfecting the transportation system of the YREB and strengthening regional spatial relations would mainly rely on water and railway transport lines. Firstly, from the perspective of waterway transportation, the Yangtze River Gold Waterway runs across China’s east and west, linking 11 provinces and cities, carrying the important task of circulation and allocation of various factors of production in the YREB. On the basis of a comprehensive and objective analysis of the current situation, in addition to the nature and functions YREB basins, it is suggested that through a rational layout and planning, the dredging of waterways can improve cargo transport volumes. Simultaneously, infrastructure at the Ports of Wuhan, Chongqing, and other important ports can be improved and the construction of an efficient waterway transportation network would lead to higher connectivity between YREB note cities. The accelerated construction of railway transportation, most notably the Shanghai-Chengdu high-speed railway along the Yangtze River should strengthen the links between the eastern and western regions. Similarly, the accelerated construction of the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway would strengthen communication between cities south of the Yangtze River. Upgrades to the railway connections between Chengdu-Chongqing, central Yunnan, Chongqing-Kunming and Chongqing-Guizhou should be made to promote the formation of the “1+1+3” urban agglomeration  in southwest China. In addition, we should intensify reform and innovation, build comprehensive transport hubs, strengthen multimodal transport by water, road and air, and build safe, efficient, green and environmentally friendly three-dimensional transport corridors, so as to strengthen the inter-regional links and promote the sustainable development of the YREB.Spatial compactness is also an important factor to promote the sustainable development of the YREB. A moderately compact urban system can promote efficient utilization of resources, high spatial output, and high-density development. However, at the same time, we need to avoid uneconomical effects, such as traffic congestion and the excessive concentration of industry and population. Therefore, in order to achieve the sustainable development of the YREB, we must adhere to the high-quality development of urbanization, minimize blind urban expansion, adhere to the concept of intensive development, take the new road of urbanization development of land, space, population and industrial intensive development. We should also speed up the transformation of the urbanization development mode in the YREB by deepening reform in an all-round way and by removing institutional obstacles. From the extensive development mode of high investment, high pollution, low benefit, and low level to the development mode of intensive, efficient, quality-oriented, and benefit-oriented coordination, thus realizing the sustainable development of the YREB.


There is a growing consensus that researching and developing therapeutic interventions into degenerative aging processes is a necessary condition for improving the health and longevity of the rapidly aging global population Thus, the research and development of therapies against degenerative aging processes (anti-aging) and for prevention of major aging-related diseases is a necessary condition for alleviating the severe economic, healthcare and humanitarian challenges of the global aging society And therefore, promoting the research and development in the field of anti-aging and aging-related disease prevention is becoming an urgent national and international task  How can the field of anti-aging and disease prevention be promoted globally to solve the challenge of bringing effective, safe and accessible anti-aging and preventive therapies to the world as soon as possible? A significant further step was taken toward the solution of this challenge with the establishment of the new Executive Committee on Anti-aging and Disease Prevention, a joint effort of UNESCO and China World Peace Foundation.http://www.isoad.org).The Executive Committee on Anti-aging and Disease Prevention was established in the framework of Science and Technology, Pharmacology and Medicine Themes under an Interactive Atlas along the Silk Roads, UNESCO. The committee inauguration took place during the 2nd (Beijing) Annual International Biomedical Health Conference and the 1st Academician Forum of Transnational Biomedical Field, in Beijing, on December 16, 2019  [th Five-year Plan, and to achieve the first centenary goal and move towards the second centenary goal, in the face of the unprecedented social, technological and demographic changes that have never been experienced in a century. At such a time, the 2nd Annual International Biomedical Health Conference convened in Beijing, responding to President Xi’s call for building a healthy China and a community with shared future for mankind with practical actions!The vital need to address the aging challenge has been increasingly recognized by the Chinese government and stakeholders in China. The year 2019 and the next year will be crucial years for China to formulate the14The conference responded to the increasingly serious crisis of chronic diseases and aging worldwide. Therefore, the conference focused on the global problems of aging and the related rise of chronic major diseases and discussed how biotechnology can creatively provide solutions for human health, in particular in old age. As the aging-related health problems increase, so do increase the capabilities of biomedical science and technology to solve those problems. For example, 5G technology will allow us to develop from information sharing to internet of things (IOT). Artificial intelligence (AI) will greatly improve our ability to understand and solve complex problems, while the breakthroughs in stem cell technologies and other geroprotective therapies will allow us to redefine healthy aging and to completely treat major diseases.In order to implement the great idea of a community with a shared future of mankind, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization supported the establishment of a professional association on anti-aging research in China through Science and Technology, Pharmacology and Medicine Themes under an Interactive Atlas along the Silk Roads, which was named the Executive Committee on Anti-Aging and Disease Prevention, UNESCO.In order to support the work of the committee, Institute of Biophysics at Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Basic Medicine at Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Shanghai University jointly established the International Joint Academy of Biomedicine as the scientific research base of the International Society on Aging and Disease (ISOAD).The committee and affiliated organizations will invite prominent scientists in the field of biomedicine from all over the world to join the committee on behalf of the scientific research institutes in China and internationally, and carry out this project under an Interactive Atlas along the Silk Roads, UNESCO, so as to promote the latest research achievements and technologies of member states to the world. The committee will form and promote policy recommendations, educational programs and scientific and cultural projects to advance the field of anti-aging and disease prevention worldwide, at the national and international levels.Science, technology and health are important cornerstones for world peace and human prosperity. By promoting the healthy longevity for the global population, the committee will contribute to the task of global cooperation, peace and human wellbeing.Only by relying on the full win-win cooperation of global scientists, and relying on the standardized technical services of various countries, can the great dream of a healthy China and the great goal of a healthy world be achieved, under the active support by the policies in biotechnology and biomedical industry!The conference and its goals were strongly supported by China’s National Development and Reform Commission and other units, with full cooperation of personnel from the biotechnology and biomedical industry all over the world, and with full-hearted active participation by academicians, specialists and peers from around the world.It is hoped that through holding this conference and the further actions of the committee, the international cooperation will be enhanced, and more advanced scientific and technological achievements will be shared and implemented.It is strongly believed that through the efforts of all of us, all the conference participants, all the collaborators, as well as the general public, can benefit from the results of anti-aging research, which has been the real intention for holding this conference and for the establishment of the Executive Committee on Anti-aging and Disease Prevention.Special thanks for implementing this initiative go to Prof. Ante Glibota, Vice-president of the European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Humanities (EASAH), and Prof. Robert Chunhua Zhao, the present Chairman of the International Society on Aging and Disease (ISOAD) who will chair the committee, as well as the excellent and self-less scientists from around the world who helped with the establishment of the Executive Committee on Anti-Aging and Disease Prevention, UNESCO, in China.The conference participants formed the core of the Executive Committee on Anti-aging and Disease Prevention that will be further expanded and reinforced in time. The present committee members include 18 experts from 16 countries and regions: Holly M. Brown-Borg , Antonio Cano , Calogero Caruso , Sasanka Chakrabarti , Georgina Ellison-Hughes , Eric Gilson , Ante Glibota , Armand Keating , Lee Wei Lim , Mitsuo Maruyama , Kyung-Jin Min , Alexey Moskalev , Amanda Salis , Ilia Stambler , Huanxing Su , Brun Ulfhake , Robert Chunhua Zhao , and Kunlin Jin .In addition to the international speakers, a distinguished cohort of prominent Chinese scientists, officials and leaders of industry presented at the conference, including the vice director Hao Chang of International Cooperation Center of National Development and Reform Commission, the chairman Yu Liang of China Health Industry Investment Fund Management, the president Xizhao Dou of National Association of Health Industry, the academician Chengyu Xiong from the Academy of Europe, Tsinghua University, Xiangdong Tan, chairman of Shanghai Magnolia Tan Jiazhen Life Science Development Foundation, the senior Vice-Mayor Linbang Lv of Lanzhou Municipal People’s Government, the district governor Hui Deng of Fucheng District, Mianyang City (China Science and Technology City), Depei Liu, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Xiangmei Chen, the Honorary Director of Department of Kidney Disease of the PLA General Hospital, Runsheng Chen, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsheng Liu, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other distinguished participants.Based on the world-class expertise of the participants, the UNESCO Executive Committee on Anti-Aging and Disease Prevention was launched, and the International Joint Academy of Biomedicine was established.The launch of the UNESCO Executive Committee is a further step along the road toward the global advancement of anti-aging and preventive biomedical research, development and application. The road will be long as many capacities still need to be built and many tasks implemented for the field to live up to its potential. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop action plans and roadmaps, policies and guidelines, consensus positions and educational materials, evaluation criteria and regulatory frameworks, to advance anti-aging and disease prevention worldwide. Such items are still in short supply both at the national and international levels. We hope that through international cooperation, in particular via establishing international expert task forces, these items may be created and disseminated.The reasons to advance the medical research and development (R&D) on anti-aging and disease prevention should be made clear to all, at all levels, from the general public to the decision makers. All should be educated about this R&D, and its vital potential to provide real solutions to prevent major chronic diseases and to improve the health, longevity and quality of life for the elderly population globally.This R&D is already supported by scientific proofs of concept, involving the evidential increase in healthy lifespan in animal models and the emerging technological capabilities to intervene into fundamental aging processes. There are also experimental proofs of the possibility to prevent multiple aging-related diseases by intervening into the aging process as the main contributing factor common to all these diseases, including positive experimental results in humans . Any reiThe innovative, applied results of such research and development will lead to sustainable solutions for a large array of age-related medical and social challenges, that may be globally applicable. The most important of them are the savings in healthcare for chronic age-related diseases and increase in the period of active and productive employment for the elderly population. This will result in their diminished dependence on external entities and the corresponding release of resources for further social and economic development and growth. As it is known, the vast majority of health expenditures and loss of productivity occur in the late development stages of chronic aging-related diseases. Therefore, any postponement of this period by early detection and prevention will create vast humanitarian and economic benefits, both for the individual and the society as a whole . ExcelleDue to these reasons, the investments into the biomedical research and development on anti-aging and prevention of aging-related diseases, can be the most beneficial and profitable for both national and global economy compared to any kind of fundamental or applied research generally and biomedical research in particular. Conversely, the lack of investments into the field can contribute to a future crisis that may be due to the lack of preparedness of the healthcare and welfare systems to provide worthy and sufficient services for the elderly, the lack of adequate solutions for the prevention of systemic economic collapse, as well as for the equitable social and economic inclusion of the elderly.These reasons for the advancement of the anti-aging and preventive biomedicine still need to become more strongly articulated and disseminated, to bring them to the attention and action of the entire society. International expert communities and organizations can have a pivotal role for such articulation and dissemination.The conference furthered this articulation, addressing particular issues involved. The conference participants presented on the various aspects of anti-aging and disease prevention, and related contexts, generally showing the feasibility of improving health in old age by the use of advanced biotechnology. The main topics included: Development of stem cell-based therapies and treatment of aging-related diseases; frontier science and technology of preventive medicine and personalized therapy; integrated development and policy research of new medical technology and health industry; scientific and technological progress in biological anti-aging field and health education in aging society.Within this range, the UNESCO committee members addressed specific areas and topics. Altogether they presented a wide front of past achievements, current work in progress and directions for future advancement for the field of anti-aging and disease prevention.Holly Brown-Borg (USA) provided a thorough overview of the current approaches to targeting the biological mechanisms of aging, constituting the fundamentals of the geroscience strategy for the preventive healthcare for the aged, i.e. measuring and therapeutically targeting the main hallmark mechanisms of aging to prevent multiple age-related diseases (multi-morbidity) and thus extend the healthy lifespan  of the elderly population, with the resulting healthcare, economic and humanitarian benefits.Calogero Caruso  shared the main results of the study of longevity in Sicily, in particular the study of local centenarians, searching for the determinants of their exceptional healthy longevity and resistance to age-related diseases and co-morbidities, including biological (molecular and genetic/epigenetic) factors as well as social and life-style determinants, with the aim to develop and adopt successful healthy longevity intervention strategies for the larger population.Antonio Cano (Spain), though communicating from outside the conference, introduced the perspective of Aging in Spain, focusing on the challenges of facing senescence with a female perspective, in particular with reference to endocrinological problems and treatments of aging-related dysfunction.Sasanka Chakrabarti (India) gave a perspective of aging research, its challenges and prospects for the long term, including issues of transition from animal models to clinical practice, development of aging epidemiology, biomarkers and risk factors, and properly designed anti-aging clinical trials, as well as some policy recommendations, such as improving funding and professional education for the field.Georgina M. Ellison-Hughes (UK) represented a new collaboration model in aging research, the multidisciplinary Aging Research at Kings College London (ARK) consortium. She then presented the highly promising results of their study for rejuvenating the regenerative capacity of the aged heart, one of the main causes of old age morbidity and mortality.Eric Gilson (France), though communicating from outside the conference, introduced another collaborative model, the Inserm Transversal program on aging AGEMED  including 20 French teams covering all topics of aging biology and medical transfer. This is a collaboration model that could be emulated also for international frameworks, emphasizing the need for holistic approaches and international coalition in aging research, development and clinical application.Ante Glibota (France) reported in his speech that the European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Humanities, as UNESCO's consultants, worked closely with the relevant stakeholders for the establishment of the new UNESCO Executive Committee on Anti-Aging and Disease Prevention. He expressed the belief that enhanced international cooperation will enable the collaborators to perform thorough systemic analysis, develop actionable solutions and improve coordination and management of the medical and scientific communities to advance anti-aging technologies and biological strategies. Such international collaborative structures will help involved organizations to develop stem cell and other anti-aging therapies that can prevent diseases, alleviate human suffering and promote human health.Armand Keating (Canada) discussed perspectives on anti-aging research, from its history to its future, with a special focus on hematological aspects of aging. In particular, he emphasized hematopoiesis as a key area of aging research, addressing key diagnostic and therapeutic issues in this research and the need for innovation and development of this area.Lee Wei Lim  introduced the field of electromagnetic deep brain stimulation, which may be a novel and effective therapeutic strategy for a variety of problems of aging, with potential benefits ranging from anti-depression to memory enhancement, and even potentially affecting fundamental whole-body regulatory mechanisms of aging such as hypothalamus regulation.Mitsuo Maruyama (Japan) reported on the severe challenges of the aging society in Japan, and the national programs and centers established to address those problems, including the enhancement of biomedical research and development.Kyung-Jin Min (South Korea) presented an overview of aging research in Korea and their institution in particular, showcasing a broad and intensive search for anti-aging drugs and other interventions in animal models, with the aim of possible translation to humans.Alexey Moskalev (Russia) surveyed the advances in the genetics of longevity and aging, providing an exposition of biomarkers of aging and possible geroprotective interventions  under development. He also introduced several suggestions for the improvement of geriatric healthcare, such as developing new approaches for training medical personnel, creating knowledge bases for early diagnosis, prevention and treatment of age-related diseases and conditions, establishing multi-center clinical studies for age-related disease prevention, and developing panels of biomarkers of aging and geroprotectors.Amanda Salis  made a compelling case for anti-aging dietary interventions, specifically for reducing the diseases of aging via substantial weight loss in people with overweight or obesity in Australia and around the world.Ilia Stambler (Israel) presented the advances of anti-aging R&D regulation and policy in Israel and internationally, the critical need to further develop and implement the policies supportive of the anti-aging field, and some possible directions for their development, such as increasing funding, education and supportive regulatory measures and evaluation standards for the filed that could be designed and promoted via international organizations.Huanxing Su  gave an overview of drug-discovery for aging-related neurodegenerative diseases, focusing on finding natural products and Chinese herbs to treat microinfarcts and vascular dementia.Brun Ulfhake (Sweden) spoke about the mechanisms of the decline in muscle power and mass as the core of organismal aging, and discussed possible actionable interventions, such as diet and exercise. He emphasized that while our current and near-future research will extend our understanding of the underlying processes and pave the way for rational interventions, we need to implement our current knowledge, but never step back on scientific rigor, to combat aging and aging-associated disabilities, and further, to adapt the society to a growing population of the elderly.Robert Chunhua Zhao , in his scientific presentation, reported the results of studies with mesenchymal stem cells and their role in clinical translational medicine. He focused on some of the central problems in translating anti-aging therapies to clinical practice, with stem cells representing a major type of anti-aging therapy, in particular defining the subpopulations of stem cells as the best seed cells for developing anti-aging drugs, novel ways to facilitate the establishment of stem cell engineering technology, as well as the critical issues of defining and validating the safety and efficiency of anti-aging treatments.These were just several subjects of the vast and ongoing discourse. There is no doubt that the broad international academic and public consultation for the advancement of the Anti-aging and Disease Prevention field will continue, within the new UNESCO Committee and other frameworks. We hope that the new committee and allied frameworks will be successful in their work promoting healthy longevity for all through education, science and culture.


How does a hospital-based arts and humanities program build towards a better healthcare system for older patients, caregivers and medical professionals? The Georgetown Lombardi Arts and Humanities Program (AHP) supports the continuum of care by encouraging a creative and constructive response to illness through the use of music, dance, expressive writing and visual arts. Artists-in-residence at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital work throughout the hospital, with in-patients and out-patients, in waiting rooms, intensive care units, and clinics. At the same time, the AHP recognizes the need to introduce the next generation of physicians, nurses, and medical professionals to the benefits of interacting with the arts to improve skills of observation, communication, empathy, and perspective-taking to serve all populations, especially older patients living with chronic illness. The AHP’s educational programs at the National Gallery of Art, and the IONA Senior Day Center will be highlighted along with their supporting evidence base


In 2019, the Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness celebrates its 100thanniversary. To mark the centenary, this special issue is a collection of papersthat showcases current research in Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness.The Editorial provides a brief history and description of the Centre and anoverview of the special issue. The Department of Education for the Deaf was founded at The University of Manchesterin 1919. It was the first university department of deaf education in the world. Thedepartment was funded by a donation from the estate of Ellis Llwyd Jones, who wasborn deaf, by his father, businessman Sir James Jones. Irene Goldsack (later Ewing)was the first Ellis Llwyd Jones lecturer. Irene Ewing and her husband Alexander wereresponsible for the fundamental concepts of pediatric audiology. They alsoinfluenced professionals throughout the world on issues pertaining to theidentification and management of childhood deafness. In 1947, Irene Ewing wasawarded the Order of the British Empire for her services to audiology and deafeducation. In 1958, Alexander Ewing was knighted for his services to audiology anddeaf education.Medresco brand) that were issued free of charge by the U.K.National Health Service (NHS) in its foundation year, 1948. In 1944, the Ewingsdeveloped the Distraction Test , which reduced the age of diagnosis of hearing loss from 2 to3 years to 6 months. The Distraction Test was used around the world until the 1990s.The Ewings practiced and advocated for a child-centered focus when teaching deafchildren. This was seen to be unusual, but innovative, as their methods were farremoved from the standard practice of speech drills and rote learning. In 1944,Irene Ewing demonstrated the linguistic and developmental advantages displayed bychildren whose parents had engaged in their early support clinics. The foundationsof early, meaningful interaction are held central to all approaches in the field tothis day.The department has made a number of seminal contributions for patient benefit,particularly with respect to pediatric diagnostics, auditory devices, and deafeducation. In 1928, the department imported an electronic audiometer from the UnitedStates and conducted groundbreaking audiometry research, showing in particular thatdeaf children usually have residual low-frequency hearing that can be enhanced byhearing aids. Physicist Tom Littler from the department was a pioneer in the designof electronic hearing aids. In 1933, he developed a group hearing aid for use inclassrooms and then helped to develop individual aids  publishedChildren, whichwToday, the department, now known as the Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness(ManCAD), is stronger than ever, with 14 members of permanent academic staff. Ouraudiology research covers a wide range from the basic physiology of hearing andhearing impairment, noise-induced hearing loss, and hearing and cognition, toauditory devices, advanced diagnostics, and pediatric audiology. The translationalwork in deaf education continues to shape practice in the field and in recent yearshas focused on deaf children with complex needs, effective radio aid use, and thedevelopment of Theory of Mind skills for deaf children and young people. The impactof our research is underpinned by a close relationship with health and educationservice providers and with leading international manufacturers of hearing aids andcochlear implants. ManCAD is also a major provider of training for students ofaudiology and for teachers of the deaf.Manchester has made a world-leading, and life-changing, contribution to audiology anddeaf education in terms of education and training, research across the life span,service development and practice. To mark the ManCAD centenary, Laura Dawes, medicalhistorian, author, and broadcaster, has updated and revised her history of audiologyand deaf education at The University of Manchester .The special issue showcases a range of current audiology research in ManCAD. Advanceddiagnostics has long been a core component of our work at Manchester, and the issueincludes several papers on this theme. The paper by Similarly, our historical research strength in auditory devices continues to thepresent day. Two papers examine the use of electrophysiological responses in theevaluation of hearing aids. The study by The city of Manchester has a somewhat notorious reputation as a source of bothoccupational (cotton mills) and recreational  noise exposure.Perhaps appropriately, the effect of noise exposure on hearing health is a strongcurrent interest in the group. The paper by The papers illustrate the wide range of different approaches used in our research,including genetic testing, audiometry, electrophysiology, psychophysics, speechtesting, subjective quality assessments, questionnaire-based techniques, and the useof big data. With emerging cross-disciplinary projects in cancer treatments,biomarkers, genomics, health informatics and data science, artificial intelligence,health psychology, engineering, and advanced materials, we continue to exploreexciting new directions in audiology research. The expectation is that our next100 years will be even more transformative than the first.


The Society mourns the loss of famed physician-scientist and global health leader Dr. Adel Mahmoud, who died June 11, 2018, in New York City as a result of a brain hemorrhage. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Sally Hodder.Born and raised in Egypt, Dr. Mahmoud received his medical degree from the University of Cairo in 1963. Following a change in political climate, he left Egypt in 1968 to pursue studies in the UK and was awarded a PhD in 1971 from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Committed even at this early stage of his career to the improvement of health in the developing world, he immigrated to the US in 1973 to work as a postdoctoral fellow with the storied Kenneth Warren at Case Western Reserve University, a hub of tropical disease research. Dr. Mahmoud’s early research focused on the role of eosinophils in schistosomiasis, which at the time was a major public health concern in Egypt and remains a significant cause of morbidity in many countries.Dr. Mahmoud succeeded Dr. Warren as head of the Division of Geographic Medicine at Case Western in 1977, where he continued his research on determinants of infection and disease in human schistosomiasis and nurtured the careers of many of today’s well-known tropical medicine investigators before becoming Chairman of the Department of Medicine in 1987. In 1998, he was recruited to serve as President of Merck Vaccines. In this role, his strong influence on global health continued. At Merck, Dr. Mahmoud played a pivotal role in the development and commercialization of vaccines for rotavirus, human papilloma virus, and shingles, as well as a new quadrivalent formulation of measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine. After retiring from Merck in 2006, he moved to Princeton University as a senior policy analyst at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He joined the faculty of Princeton in 2011 as a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and was an integral member of the university’s Global Health Program.Dr. Mahmoud served the research and public health community tirelessly. He was a member of the boards of directors of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, and the International Vaccine Institute. He served on the National Advisory Allergy and Infectious Diseases Council and was chair of the US Delegation of the US-Japan Cooperative Medical Sciences Program. He was called upon to advise the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Academies. Throughout his career he received many honors. He was a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, American Society of Clinical Investigation, and American Association of Physicians. He was president of the Central Society for Clinical Research and the International Society of Infectious Diseases. As a decades-long member of ASTMH, Dr. Mahmoud received the Bailey K. Ashford medal in 1983.https://blogs.princeton.edu/memorial/2018/06/adel-mahmoud/.Dr. Mahmoud will be remembered for his dynamism, wit, charm, and generosity, his dedication to mentoring young physicians and scientists, his sense of service, and his deep commitment to global public health. Remembrances can be contributed to a blog established by Princeton University to honor his life and legacy:


The prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is increasing in Iran. Collection of patients’ data is commonly conducted through using medical records. However, for providing a structured reporting based on the information needs, a minimum data set is a fast, inexpensive, and suitable method. For exchanging high-quality data between different healthcare centers and health monitoring organization, the data are required to be uniformly collected and registered. The present study aims at designing an MDS for creating the registry of GDM. The present study is an applied one, conducted in two stages, with a qualitative Delphi method in 2018. In the first stage of the study, it was attempted to extract the data elements of mothers with GDM, through reviewing the related studies and collecting these patients’ data from the medical records. Then, based on the results of the first stage, a questionnaire including demographic, clinical, and pharmaceutical data was distributed among 20 individuals including gynecologists, pharmacists, nurses, and midwives. The validity of the questionnaire was examined by a team of experts and its reliability was examined by using Cronbach’s alpha. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics  and excel. An MDS of gestational diabetes mellitus was developed. This MDS divided into three categories: administrative, clinical, and pharmaceutical with 4, 18, and 2 sections and 35, 199, and 12 data elements, respectively. Determining the minimum data sets of GDM will be an effective step toward integrating and improving data management of patients with GDM. Moreover, it will be possible to store and retrieve the data related to these patients. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is an increase in a person’s level of blood sugar. GDM is either initiated or diagnosed during pregnancy . In bothThe significance of data collection in GDM indicates the increasing awareness of short-term and long-term effects of this disease for both mothers and infants. A minimum data set for reporting diabetes during pregnancy will result in a better understanding and monitoring of risk factors and their results, including different types of GDM. Moreover, a minimum data set is likely to indicate the significance of monitoring health changes in the population, the effect of gestational interventions, and the services required by pregnant mothers . Given tFurthermore, in order to create a system that is completely compatible with data exchange, it is primarily required to agree on the data elements set . The agrIn their study titled “Results of the first recorded evaluation of a national GDM mellitus register: Challenges in screening, registration, and follow-up for diabetes risk”, Boyle et al. state that the registration of a large number of patients in the Australian GDM registry will result in the provision of sufficient and accurate data for finding the risk factors, having an early diagnosis, improving screening goals, improving treatment results, correcting the lifestyle, and reducing the risk of suffering from post-gestational type 2 diagnosis . CreatinAt present, there is no summary of the information related to patients with GDM in the form of minimum data set for Iran. For collecting high-quality data and creating a system of integrated data as registry, the integration of data is essential for monitoring the status of maternal and neonatal health for two main reasons. Creating a minimum data set for GDM can be regarded as the first step for creating a national registry system of such data. Thus, the present study aims at creating a minimum set of administrative, clinical, and pharmaceutical data of GDM. It is also attempted to apply the same data with purposes of research, education, and pregnant women’s health status monitoring, prevention, and control of this disease by using its statistical results.The present study is an applied one conducted in two stages with a qualitative Delphi method in 2018. In the first step, a review of the literature was conducted to retrieve related data resources. The resources included articles, reports, and forms available on the internet. In this step, a checklist was also used for the extraction of data elements. Searching the articles was conducted on Elsevier, Scopus, PubMed, SID, MagIran, ProQuest databases as well as Google Scholar search engine from 20072017. In the present study, all articles related to minimum data set, registry, and common data elements of GDM were examined and the main data elements were extracted. Sampling was not performed at this stage, and all the relevant literature was retrieved and evaluated based on the inclusion criteria, was then evaluated and the literature review was limited to the English language between 2007 and 2017, in full text from valid sources. The articles, whose full texts were impossible to access in addition to letters to editor, forms, and reports retrieved from websites, were excluded. Literature review was continued until data saturation. Then their desired data elements were entered into the checklist. Materials relevant to the subject were found using a search strategy .Data was also collected from medical records of patients hospitalized due to GDM in ShahidAkhbarabadi Hospital, affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences and Arash Women’s Hospital, affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences, two maternity hospitals in Tehran which having been ranked O14 in the ICD-10 classification. Medical records of these patients contained clinical, demographic, and discharge documents that were completed and archived. In order to validate the study, medical records of the patients of Mahdiyeh Educational Hospital affiliated with ShahidBeheshti University of Medical Sciences in the city of Tehran, which is a specialized hospital in obstetrics and gynecology were studied as well. In hospitals, 10 medical records in each O14 category related to GDM based on International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) were randomly selected. In addition, data elements of emergency forms in hospitals were studied. In order to extract the data elements from the sources listed above, a checklist was used.Collected data were divided into clinical, administrative, and pharmaceutical categories using a checklist. Then, extracted data elements from the literature review and patient medical records, in Iran, were combined and the final content of the checklist was constructed. The administrative data were classified into four categories. Moreover, the clinical and pharmaceutical data were classified in 19 and two categories, respectively. The questionnaire was constructed using the data elements of the mentioned checklist. The questionnaire was composed of five columns with, strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree and strongly disagree in front of each data element. At the end of each section, a blank row was considered for adding necessary data elements by experts. Content validity of the questionnaire was evaluated by four experts, including two health information management experts, and two obstetrics and gynecology specialists. Test– retest reliability  was performed to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS 19, and a Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient of 84% was achieved. To determine the final data elements of the MDS of the registry related to GDM, data elements were chosen by 20 samples of attending experts through the Decision Delphi technique in two rounds. The research environment was the workplace of gynecologists, pharmacists, nurses, and midwives working at two maternity hospitals in Tehran. These two hospitals were selected because they were teaching-medical hospitals and they accept a high number of pregnant women. The criteria for selecting the experts were being a faculty member and having at least five years’ experience in pregnancy diseases in clinical environments and hospitals. The second group was also required to consist of faculty members working in medical centers and having at least five years’ experience. The third and fourth groups were nurses and midwives working in maternity hospitals with at least five years’ experience. As many as 40 questionnaires were distributed among the experts of the four fields in two rounds (20 questionnaires in the first round and 20 questionnaires in the second round). All of the 40 questionnaires were completed and collected. The criteria for the acceptance of data elements in the final MDS, was the agreement level of experts. Data elements with agreement levels less than 50% were excluded at the first round, 50–75% agreement levels entered the second round, and agreement levels more than 75% were accepted in the first round of the Delphi technique. In the second round, an agreement level of 75% was considered on each data element. In the end, final data elements of the MDS were achieved in two rounds.The personal information of the experts, participating in the first and second rounds of Delphi, is presented in However, in the second round of Delphi, the experts agreed upon 80% of the administrative elements and 77% of the clinical elements .The suggested MDS of the gestational diabetes mellitus for Iran is indicated based on the section and the data elements of each category. The MDS of GDM was divided into three categories: administrative with four sections, clinical with 18 sections and pharmaceutical with two sections. The total number of final data elements for administrative, clinical and pharmaceutical categories was 43, 246 and12, respectively. After applying two rounds of the decision Delphi technique, the final data elements for administrative, clinical, and pharmaceutical categories were 35, 199 and12, respectively –4. 55 daIn the end, the administrative data elements were categorized in four sections- demographic, healthcare provider, admission and its frequency, and patient indicators. From 43 data elements, the experts agreed on as many as 35 data elements. The clinical data elements were categorized into 19 sections, viz., diagnostic data, symptoms, previous medical history and risk factors, family history, history of previous deliveries, physical and clinical examinations, vaginal examinations, disease prognosis in case of delivery, laboratory data, counseling, permission for treatment and surgery, the current status of pregnancy, pregnancy result, prenatal and postpartum care for women with GDM, anesthesia data, sonography data, blood sugar chart, data related to the diabetic mother’s infant, and the mother’s discharge data.Finally, the experts agreed upon as many as 18 sections including 199 data elements. Given the experts’ lack of agreement, family history section and its data elements were removed .The pharmaceutical data elements were categorized into two sections, i.e., used drugs and substance use dependence, and drugs used related to diabetes. The experts agreed upon as many as 12 data elements, and they were used in the final MDS. The first stage for creating the registry of diabetic pregnant women, requiring constant follow-up, is identifying the information needs in medical centers. Based on the findings of the researcher, the data elements in paper records are commonly incomplete. Given the importance of such data, there are numerous shortcomings for having electronic data. After the poll, the table of the minimum data set was created for designing the registry of GDM. In these tables, the patients’ data were classified into three categories, i.e. administrative, clinical, and pharmaceutical .For determining the patient’s minimum administrative, clinical, and pharmaceutical data, in addition to searching the valid databases, the hospitalized patients’ medical records were examined as well. Moreover, by using the views of all individuals involved in the data collection of the present study , the minimum data set required for creating the GDM registry was created. In this poll, as far as the administrative data section goes, the most important elements were the first name, last name, father’s name, marital status, date of admission, hospitalization date, number of hospitalizations, the name and address of the hospital/healthcare center, hospital/health care center ID, cause of reference, number of references, medical records numberAs for the clinical data, the team participating in the poll determined the essential data. The data elements include symptoms of pain and bleeding, high blood pressure, fever, headache, the starting time of the pain, fetal approximate weight, maternal weight, BMI, and registered HbA1c in the first trimester of pregnancy, delivery lesions, Apgar score, intrauterine death cause (in case of occurrence), and other important elements.In addition to the required data elements, given the experts’ views, the pharmaceutical set needed a separate classification for the essential data of pregnant mothers’ treatment duration. The most important data elements included the data related to current drugs, drug allergy, smoking dependence, smoking addiction, narcotics and their different kinds, the starting time of the diabetic treatment, pharmaceutical treatment/name/dose/prescription time: oral medication, IV/IM medication, external medication, internal therapy, and blood products. The experts agreed upon all of the aforementioned data elements.In Australia, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has initiated the project of “The Pregnant Women’s Dataset” in the form of a minimum data set. One of the most important parts of the present project is collecting minimum data acquired from screening and caring for pregnant mothers with GDM . In thisAlthough the Australian Perinatal National Minimum Data Set contains information about gestational diabetes mellitus, these data have been conducted by applying different methods in different fields. This makes it difficult to compare them on a national level. Thus, applying standard definitions or similar classifications through a minimum data set of GDM is the first step in improving the adaptability of the reports and comparing the data on a national level .“Diabetes in pregnancy outcomes: A systematic review and proposed codification of definitions”, Feig et al. (2015) created a standard definition source for future studies. In the present study, the experts agreed upon the standard maternal and fetal data by examining the studies conducted within 2000–2012 as well other resources including the World Health Organization and the statements released by the related scientific communities. For reports of future studies on GDM and collection of the related data, the present study is highly recommended [In a study titled g et al. 15 createSadoughi et al. (2015) have conducted an applied study titled “Minimum data sets of perinatal period for Iran: A Delphi study”. In their study, the minimum data sets of the perinatal period were collected by investigating the minimum data sets of the selected countries, viz., Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the USA, England, and Iran through applying library resources. Then, the recommended minimum data set was validated by providing the experts with a questionnaire. The recommended minimum data set of the perinatal period for Iran was classified in 15 sections. According to the present study, weak documentation and lack of standard data elements are the main integration problems of information systems. Moreover, the present study proposed designing and implementation of perinatal minimum data set . The finIn their study titled “Results of the first recorded evaluation of a national gestational diabetes mellitus register: Challenges in screening, registration, and follow-up for diabetes risk” Boyle et al. (2018) collected the data from three GDM data centers to guarantee the integration of the data; all of the data related to pre- and post-partum cares as well as fetal/neonatal status were recorded as registry . As in tGiven the priority of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education for developing the project of disease registration system, the health outcomes in Iran, and the high prevalence and incidence rate of GDM and its complications for the mother and fetus/infant, designing and implementing the registry system of GDM in Iran is of high significance. The minimum data set of GDM will result in the collection of the national data about the incidence and prevalence of the disease, care strategies and techniques, and the treatment provided for GDM patients. The minimum data set works as a platform for collecting the key data of a disease . By acceThe analysis of the findings of the present study indicated that determining the minimum data set as the first step of GDM registration system’s implementation is of high significance for exchanging integrated health data in the healthcare industry. In fact, applying the minimum data set as the basis and foundation of GDM health registration system will result in designing the web-based electronic records corresponding to the social and health conditions of Iran and having quick access to accurate and comprehensive data of GDM. By planning, evaluating, and monitoring the status of the patients and identifying the shortcomings of providing medical services and its outcomes, it will be easier to arrange policies and plans for the gestational diabetes mellitus and its sufferers on a national level. The practical application of this minimum data set through forms of the GDM registration system for documenting the cares is likely to result in determining the validity and reliability of the data elements, based on the needs of the Iranian healthcare system. If necessary, the minimum data set can be updated according to the new medical protocols for GDM and the needs of the gestational diabetes mellitus registration system’s beneficiaries.This study has been funded and supported by Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS); Grant No.96-04-136-31843.The authors confirm that there are no conflicts of interest.


This Special Issue focuses on recent research on the important emerging and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in South and South East Asia and Northern Australia. This region stretches from Pakistan in the west to the Philippines in the east, and includes Afghanistan and countries to the east, the Indian subcontinent, mainland South-East Asia, and the tropical regions of Australia. Many of these areas are highly endemic for important NTDs and other tropical diseases, including lymphatic filariasis (LF), soil-transmitted helminthiases (STH) such as hookworm infection, trichuriasis, ascariasis, and strongyloidiasis, rickettsial diseases and arboviral diseases. Several of these diseases are targeted for elimination or enhanced control by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the next 5 to 10 years, although some have chronic lasting sequelae and disability needing lifelong management. Control methods used include preventive chemotherapy, enhanced screening and treatment, intensified disease management, vector control, interruption of human to animal transmission, environmental/sanitation improvements and disability prevention/mitigation. A current list of WHO NTDs is given in Strongyloides stercoralis [Schistosoma japonicum, Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and hookworm, in the Philippines [At the time of publication, there have been 11 papers published upon peer review acceptance in this Special Issue, including eight original papers, two review papers and one perspectives piece. They each contribute to a much better understanding of Neglected and Emerging Tropical Diseases in South and Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. The contributions to these topics can be summarized as follows: four submissions on LFs ,3,4,5, frcoralis ; and a srcoralis ; and a slippines . The twolippines , and thelippines .Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease.The diversity of papers, the depth of the topics and the relative geographical reach of the authors  in this Special Issue confirm the continued collective major interest in this area. This wide-ranging open access collection contributes to a much better understanding on the epidemiology, presentation, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and control of neglected and emerging tropical diseases in South and Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. As the editors of this Special Issue, we trust that you find the content useful, as the authors are pleased to share their knowledge with an international audience. We look forward to future opportunities to update advances in this field and encourage you or publish your work in or propose a Special Issue for


This symposium will present findings from a National Academy of Social Insurance study panel on Designing State-Based Social Insurance Programs for Long-Term Services and Supports, Paid Leave, and Affordable Child Care. The risk of needing to provide or receive care is universal. Policymakers in several states are now weighing the enactment of new social insurance programs to address the risk of needing long-term services and supports. The study panel has mapped out the key design choices such states would need to consider with regard to program structure, financing, integration with Medicaid, and implementation, and the implications of these choices for elders, people with disabilities, families, providers, and states. The symposium will also present the study panel’s findings with regard to how long-term care benefits could be provided in the context of an integrated care program addressing three often interrelated caregiving risks: long-term services and supports, paid family and medical leave, and early child care and education: Universal Family Care. Finally, implications for emancipatory gerontology, including the impact of the current gaps in our care infrastructure on family caregivers and the care workforce, will be considered.