Correspondence

USA

Documents Citable documents

Citations

Selfcitations

Citations per H index4 document

1 875 195

1 652 683

37 441 209

18 437 180

22·36

904

Turkey

120 954

109 240

648 234

128 711

6·71

142

Israel

59 894

54 409

953 440

104 365

16·89

255

Iran

38 147

35 492

131 537

43 207

7·82

82

Arab nations*

76 417†

69 753†

444 281†

49 680†

7·67‡

39‡

*22 Arab nations (Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen). †Cumulative values for the 22 Arab nations. ‡Average value of the 22 Arab nations.

Table: Medical research output from the USA, Turkey, Israel, Iran, and Arab nations (1996–2012)

Chinese academics, mainly from USA, so that by 2018, China’s research output will be growing by 330%, according to forecast.5 We believe that an Arab medical research council—inspired from the US National Institutes of Health, the Medical Reasearch Council in the UK, and INSERM in France—is necessary to establish strategies that promote medical and health research in the Arab world in collaboration with international institutions. Historically pioneers in several sciencific domains, Arab scientists have an obligation to initiate a scientific Arab spring to promote medical research and subsequently participate in the development of their nations. We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.

*Mohammed El-Azami-El-Idrissi, Mounia Lakhdar-Idrissi, Karim Ouldim, Wafaa Bono, Afaf Amarti-Riffi, Moustapha Hida, Chakib Nejjari [email protected] Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University of Fez and Hassan II University Hospital of Fez, Fez 30000, Morocco 1

2

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Scimago Institutions Rankings. SIR World Report 2013. http://www.scimagoir.com/pdf/ SIR Global 2013 O.pdf (accessed Sept 3, 2013). Scimago Journal and Country Rank. Country rankings. http://www.scimagojr.com/ countryrank.php?area=2700&category=0®i on=all&year=all&order=it&min=0&min_ type=it (accessed Sept 3, 2013). Shangai Ranking. Academic ranking of world universities. http://www.shanghairanking.com/ ARWU2013.html (accessed Sept 3, 2013). Hirsch JE. An index to quantify an individual’s scientific research output. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2005; 102: 16569–72.

www.thelancet.com Vol 382 December 21/28, 2013

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ScimagoLab. Forecasting exercise: how world scientific output will be in 2018. http://www. scimagolab.com/blog/2012/forecastingexercise-how-world-scientific-output-will-bein-2018/ (accessed Sept 3, 2013).

Haze, air pollution, and health in China In January, 2013, a hazardous dense haze covered 1·4 million km² of China and affected more than 800 million people.1 This winter, again, northern China is being hit by a heavy haze. According to the Global Burden of Disease Study, 2 a frightening 3·2 million people died from air pollution in 2010—2·1 million were from Asia. Meanwhile, the number of paediatric patients with pneumonia dramatically increased in China. Experts warned that China’s haze could be “more horrible than the SARs epidemic”.1 “Haze weather is more carcinogenic than cigarettes”, declared Zhong Nanshan (Director of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases). While smoking has fallen in China, the prevalence of lung cancer has increased, most probably due to air pollution. In addition to respiratory diseases and cancer, the haze also substantially affects prevalence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Air pollution in China is mainly caused by coal, motor vehicles, and industrial dust, and is linked with the rapid economic development. Although this rapid economic

development has improved living conditions, it also threatens people’s health, which is a dilemma for China. It is time to do something to solve the air pollution problem in China. It has been caused by accumulation over time of both natural factors and an unhealthy economic growth model. As Prime Minister Li Keqiang acknowledged, it will be a long process, but we have to act.1 Monitoring of PM2·5 has been introduced and the Chinese Government has committed to spend ¥3·4 trillion on environmental protection in the 12th Five Year Plan. The air pollution prevention action plan, published in September, 2013, calls for strict controls on pollution, industry production, coal consumption; implementation of clean production processes; and promotion of clean vehicles, among other measures.3 The results of these policies are still to be seen; it will be a very long process, requiring a balance between various regions’ interests and implementation of economic and structural adjustments. Quality of the environment and people’s health should not be the victims of the economic development. We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.

Peng Xu, Yongfen Chen, *Xiaojian Ye [email protected] Department of Orthopaedics, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200003, China (PX, XY); and Department of Paediatric Cardiology, Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China (YC) 1

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3

Caijing. China’s haze “more horrible” than SARs epidemic, expert warns. http://english. caijing.com.cn/2013-01-31/112478574.html (accessed Jan 31, 2013). Lim SS, Vos T, Flaxman AD, et al. A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet 2012; 380: 2224–60. Chinese Government. The State Council issued the “Air Pollution Prevention Action Plan” Ten measures (in Chinese). http://www.gov.cn/ jrzg/2013-09/12/content_2486918.htm (accessed Oct 12, 2013).

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Haze, air pollution, and health in China.

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