The 2020 report of The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: responding to converging crises

Climate and COVID-19: converging crises

The Lancet Countdown 2020, published on Dec 2, 2020, provides a grim outlook of the impact of climate change, emphasising the severe effects on our health and the resulting overwhelming strain on health-care systems. It reports record-high global temperatures that provide breeding ground for infectious diseases and that jeopardise food security. Because these effects will pose the greatest dangers for vulnerable groups, climate disruptions are widening pre-existing wealth-related and age-related divides.

Outcomes after medical treatment for primary aldosteronism: an international consensus and analysis of treatment response in an international cohort.

This paper presents a comparative analysis of Bible translations in German, French, Spanish and English targeted towards a range of cross-confessional audiences. It focuses on the key word translation of concepts such as freedom and slavery. It examines the translator’s choices and the pragmatic implications of these decisions for readers of translations of the Bible. The case study centres on the concepts of freedom and slavery in Paul’s letter to the Galatians with an intercultural corpus of 16 translations. Authorised and widely accepted translations in English, German, French and Spanish such as the Lutherbibel (1984) and Reina Valera (1989) are compared with new competing translations, such as the New Living Translation (Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, 2007), The Message (Peterson, The Message: the new testament in contemporary English. NavPress, Colorado Springs, 2005), and Die Volxbibel (). This study draws from the fields of Pragmatics, Translation Studies and Theology, to provide a unique cross-cultural examination of Galatians, and of sacred translation. It is found that the choices of the translator of sacred texts are not merely linguistic choices, but rather they are often rooted in various ideological and theological positions.

Long-acting injectable versus oral antipsychotics for the maintenance treatment of schizophrenia: a systematic review and comparative meta-analysis of randomised, cohort, and pre–post studies

Left unmitigated, climate change poses a catastrophic risk to human health, requiring an urgent and concerted response from every country. As the home to one fifth of the world's population and the largest emitter of carbon dioxide globally, China's interventions in climate change are of pivotal importance, both to human health and to the planet. Similar to other countries, climate change mitigation and adaptation would bring immense health benefits for China's 1·4 billion people, and building these considerations into any COVID-19 recovery strategy and the detailed pathway to fulfil the 2060 carbon neutrality pledge will ensure it improves human wellbeing, both now and in the future. Decisions made over the coming months and years will establish the course of climate change policy for decades to come. To meet this challenge, Tsinghua University (Beijing, China), partnering with University College London (London, UK) and 17 Chinese and international institutions, has produced the Lancet Countdown China report, focusing at the national level and building on the work of the global Lancet Countdown. Drawing on international methods and frameworks, this report aims to understand and track the links between public health and climate change at the national level. This paper is one part of the Lancet Countdown's broader efforts to develop regional expertise and understanding. Uniquely, the data and results in this report are presented at the provincial level where possible, to facilitate the targeted response strategies for local decision makers. Taken as a whole, the findings of the 23 indicators convey two key messages. The first message is that the health effects from climate change in China are accelerating, posing an unacceptably high amount of health risk if global temperatures continue to rise. Every province is affected, each with its unique health threats, and targeted response strategies should be made accordingly. The effects of climate change, manifested in rising temperatures, more extreme weather events, and shifting vector ecology, are being felt in China. Heatwave-related mortality has risen by a factor of four from 1990 to 2019, reaching 26 800 deaths in 2019. The monetised cost of the high number of deaths is equivalent to the average annual income of 1·4 million people in China. Older people (>65 years old), who face a 10·4% higher risk of dying during a heatwave, endured an average of 13 more heatwave days in 2019 compared with the 1986–2005 baseline. For outdoor workers, their potential heat-related labour productivity loss reached 0·5% of total national work hours, costing 1% of China's gross domestic product (GDP), equivalent to its annual fiscal expenditure on science and technology. Driven in part by rising temperatures and a changing climate, the advent of more extreme wildfires and the spread of dengue fever will in turn lead to profound health effects. Different regions have unique health threats, requiring a targeted response—19 provinces have had an at least 10% rise over the past two decades in three or more of the six health effect indicators reported. Importantly, many highly populated and economically advanced provinces, such as Henan, Shandong, and Zhejiang, are faced with health risks that are larger and more rapidly accelerating than others. The second message is that impressive and concerted improvements have been made across several sectors in China; however, the gap in the country's response to the health effects of climate change is large. In some sectors, China has taken large steps to address climate change. Solar power generation is growing at an unprecedented rate of 26·5% per year, rising to 26·8 gigawatts (GW) of newly installed capacity in 2019. Investments in low-carbon energy are now nine times greater than those in fossil fuels (rising from a 1:1 ratio in 2008); and, providing 4·1 million jobs in 2018, renewable energy now employs more people in China than fossil fuel extraction industries. As a result of strong policy measures, severe air pollution has also decreased, with a 28% reduction in annual average particulate matter of 2·5 μm or less (PM2·5) concentration in cities from 2015 to 2019, resulting in 90 000 fewer PM2·5-related premature deaths annually. These air pollution control policies also act to mitigate climate change and have resulted in a decline in China's coal share in total primary energy supply from 66% in 2014 to 59% in 2018. Showing leadership at the subnational level, three provinces already have a provincial health and climate change plan in place, with four more provinces underway. However, although these changes have been rapid, more shifts of a greater size are necessary to enact a response that is of the scale required to fulfil China's carbon neutrality by 2060 pledge and to minimise the rising health burdens of climate change, both in China and around the world. Although renewable energy use is rising, coal stills holds a 59% share of the total primary energy supply in China. Fossil fuel subsidies were US$41·9 billion in 2018, without considering the contribution of fossil fuels to the estimated $10·7 billion economic losses because of premature mortality from PM2·5 air pollution. Although there have been substantial reductions in air pollution, 42% of China's population still live in areas that do not meet the interim air quality guidelines from WHO, and almost all cities have PM2·5 concentrations more than the recommended annual average of 10 μg/m3. The health effects of climate change are not adequately recognised or addressed, as climate change is not referenced in the Healthy China Action Plan (2019–30), and China is yet to introduce a standalone national adaptation plan for health. Taking a broader perspective, media coverage and individual engagement in health and climate change are low, with little spread of knowledge and engagement. China will need to scale up progress in all sectors to counteract the rising curve of the health risks from climate change. Five recommendations are proposed to key stakeholders in health and climate change in China: (1)Enhance interdepartmental cooperation. Climate change is a challenge that requires an integrated response from all sectors. Although China commits to integrate health into all policies, substantial interdepartmental cooperation among health, environment, energy, economic, financial, and education authorities is urgently needed.(2)Strengthen health emergency preparedness. Although the amount of health emergency preparedness in China would be greatly enhanced after COVID-19, knowledge and findings on current and future climate-related health threats still do not have enough attention and should be fully integrated into the emergency preparedness and response system, so that future health service, medical supplies, and infrastructure needs could be planned ahead.(3)Support research and raise awareness. Additional financial support should be allocated to health and climate change research in China, to enhance the knowledge of health system adaptation, mitigation measures, and their resulting health benefits. At the same time, media and academia should be fully motivated to raise awareness on this topic for the public and for politicians. Additionally, the Government of China should update the Healthy China Action Plan (2019–30) to address the health risks of climate change as soon as possible.(4)Increase climate change mitigation. China's new pledges towards carbon neutrality by 2060 is a major step forward. Speeding up the coal phase-out process is therefore necessary to be consistent with the carbon neutrality pledges and continue China's progress on air pollution reduction. Fossil fuel subsidies should also be phased out to reflect the true cost of ongoing fossil fuel use and to avoid undermining the effect of China's emissions trading scheme, scheduled to take effect in 2021.(5)Ensure the country's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic protects health both now and in the future. Decisions made as part of China's efforts to recover from COVID-19 will shape the public's health for years to come. The longer-term prospects for lives, livelihoods, and a sustainable economy will be put in jeopardy if these interventions do not prioritise climate change.

This volume, edited by Emmanuel Veillon, a surgeon, with the collaborative assistance of members of the medical profession in the various other special fields, is more of a glossary than a dictionary. This book consists of words listed in columns, each repeated in English, French and German. The first column is in alphabetical order followed by two columns of the translation in English, French or German. All words are presented three times since the initial letter may not be the same in each language, in order to render it simple to find the word in any of the three languages. This results in the book being divided into three glossaries, one in English with the French and German translations, another in French with the English and German translations and a third in German with the English and French translations. The words are not defined. The book should prove valuable to

The 2021 China report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: seizing the window of opportunity

The First Translations of Machiavelli's “Prince” from the Sixteenth to the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

Nurses play essential roles in reducing health problems due to climate change

Quantitative estimates of preventable and treatable deaths from 36 cancers worldwide: a population-based study

The Climate Emergency—And the Emergency Physicians Fighting It: Experts Are Preparing Departments and the Next Generation of Physicians for This Emerging Threat

The Negative Bidirectional Interaction Between Climate Change and the Prevalence and Care of Liver Disease: A Joint BSG, BASL, EASL, and AASLD Commentary

Inventum Novum, by Leopold Auenbrugger. A facsimile of the first edition with Corvisart's French translation (1808), Forbes's English translation (1824) Ungar's German translation (1843). Edited with a biographical account by Max Neuburger, London, reprinted by Dawsons of Pall Mall, 1968, £7. - Volume 13 Issue 4

MARCH 1787, VILNA. Georg Forster (1854-1794) drafts his translator's preface to the German edition of Cook's Third Voyage.1 A participant in Cook's second voyage (1772-1775), Forster had made a name for himself as a writer and translator by publishing a travelogue about that journey in 1777. Published in English and German, A Voyage round the World (Reise urn die Welt) was well received; Forster's account, eine philosophische Reisebeschreibung, was widely regarded as a competitor to Cook's official version.2 It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the Berlin publisher Haude & Spener asked Forster to translate the Third Voyage as well. After much procrastination, Forster finally delved into the project. In the preface, he divulges a practice of translating travelogues that greatly enhances our understanding of an emergent national literature in 18th-century Germany. In that, Forster's preface stands not alone; rather, it participates in a wide-ranging, late 18th-century convention of translating travelogues that is thoroughly documented in translators' prefaces: cutting portions of the original, and fabricating facts about travel, in accordance with a particular ideology or philosophy on the part of the writer, translator, and/or editor. As translators engage in these practices, they create images of themselves. An aspect of these images is the role translators wish to assume in shaping a community of German readers. Conversely, as they envision the effective circulation of their books among the reading public, they claim the legitimacy of their manipulated translation. These complex dynamics become visible, as I read Forster's preface alongside translators' prefaces in selected volumes of Magazin van merkwurdigen neuen Reisebeschreibungen, aus fremden Sprachen ubersetzt und mit erlauternden Anmerkungen begleitet (1790-1839), as well as in the hugely popular Des Herrn Sonnerais Reise nach Ostindien, und China, in den Jahren 1774 bis 1781 nebst dessen Beobachtungen uberPegu, Madagascar, das Cap, die Inseln France und Bourbon, die Maldiven, Ceylon, Malaca, die Phiiippinen und Molucken (1783).3 No comprehensive study of pre-Romantic German translation practices in the 18th century-as opposed to theories-has been undertaken to date.4 For instance, how did contemporaries understand the relationship between translation and original text in the 18th century? Were translators respected for their craft or considered mere instruments? What principles informed translations of English, French, and Spanish travelogues and their renderings of distant cultures in a period when, as Friedrich Kittler reminds us, everybody contributed to writing or weaving a larger fabric of the world, a universe that was imagined to represent nothing but an expression of divine power, or the exalted Word? Any text, Kittler contends, contains an act of translation; modeled on the exegesis of biblical texts, texts were marked by multiple compilations, integrations, eliminations, and corrections, mostly in blatant ignorance of sources-in short, they constituted acts of rhetorical paraphrase (6-12).5 What, if any, criteria existed for mediating cultures? And, last but not least, what, if any, role did translators' prefaces play in raising or even clarifying these issues? This article aims to sketch out one possible line for investigating these questions further. To begin with, shifts in 18th-century epistemology profoundly affected the understanding of translation. A historical look at German and European translation practice suggests that, at least in the first half of the 18th century, the relationship between translation and authorship was indeed regulated in different terms than we would expect today. Not only did a culture where every text referred-in one way or another-to the divine word invest far less prestige and recognition in an individual author, but the hierarchy between translation and original was not clear, if at all established, since boundaries were necessarily and conceptually blurred. …