Search

Background and purpose: This study was to investigate the prevalence and cardiovascular risk factors (CRFs) of asymptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (aICAS) amongst middle‐aged and older adults living in rural communities in China. Methods: This population‐based study included 2019 subjects (aged ≥40 years, 52.3% women) who were free of stroke and living in rural communities in China. From October 2017 to May 2018, data on demographics, CRFs and health conditions were collected through face‐to‐face interviews, physical examination and laboratory tests. Asymptomatic ICAS was detected through a two‐phase procedure: a screening phase with transcranial Doppler ultrasound, followed by a diagnostic phase with magnetic resonance angiography examination. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to analyse CRFs associated with aICAS. Results: Of the 2019 participants, aICAS was detected in 153 persons. The overall prevalence of aICAS was 7.6%, and the prevalence of moderate‐to‐severe aICAS was 5.0%. The multi‐adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of aICAS associated with CRFs was 2.40 (1.56–3.69) for hypertension, 1.91 (1.32–2.76) for high hypersensitive C‐reactive protein, 1.68 (1.14–2.49) for diabetes and 1.61 (1.08–2.41) for overweight or obesity. When these four CRFs were aggregated, compared with participants without any of these factors, the multi‐adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of aICAS for persons concurrently having one, two and three or more of these factors were 1.14 (0.52–2.48), 2.91 (1.42–5.99) and 5.51 (2.64–11.50), respectively (P for linear trend <0.001). Conclusions: Asymptomatic ICAS is common amongst rural‐dwelling middle‐aged and older Chinese people. Hypertension, diabetes, overweight or obesity and high hypersensitive C‐reactive protein, especially when coexisting, are strongly associated with aICAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although numerous multicentre studies have estimated the association between ozone exposure and mortality, there are currently no nationally representative multicentre studies of the ozone-mortality relationship in China.Objective: To investigate the effect on total (nonaccidental) and cause-specific mortality of short-term exposure to ambient ozone, and examine different exposure metrics.Methods: The effects of short-term exposure to ozone were analysed using various metrics (daily 1-h maximum, daily 8-h maximum and daily average) on total (nonaccidental) and cause-specific (circulatory and respiratory) mortality from 2013 to 2015 in 34 counties in 10 cities across China. We used distributed lag nonlinear models for estimating county-specific relative risk of mortality and combined the county-specific relative rates by conducting a random-effects meta-analysis.Results: In all-year analyses, a 10 μg m-3 increase in daily average, daily 1-h maximum and daily 8-h maximum ozone at lag02 corresponded to an increase of 0.6% (95% CI: 0.33, 0.88), 0.26% (95% CI: 0.12, 0.39) and 0.37% (95% CI: 0.2, 0.55) in total (nonaccidental) mortality, 0.66% (95% CI: 0.28, 1.04), 0.31% (95% CI: 0.11, 0.51) and 0.39% (95% CI: 0.16, 0.62) in circulatory mortality, and 0.57% (95% CI: -0.09, 1.23), 0.11% (95% CI: -0.22, 0.44) and 0.22% (95% CI: -0.28, 0.72) in respiratory mortality, respectively. These estimates had a different seasonal pattern by cause of death. In general, the seasonal patterns were consistent with the times of year when ozone concentrations are highest.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that in China, the acute effects of ozone are more closely related to daily average exposure than any other metric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the emergence of a ST2570 Klebsiella pneumoniae isolate carrying mcr-1 and blaCTX-M-14 recovered from a bloodstream infection in China. Topics include the first identification of a clinical colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae isolate belonging to a rare sporadic clone recovered from the community- acquired bloodstream infection in China.

Reports on the presence of Witches'-Broom disease on Chinese wingnut and the disease's link with a phytoplasma of aster yellows group in China. Research findings; Research applications; Implications on studies of plant diseases.

China-Kazakhstan pipeline is the first land import transnational crude oil pipeline in China. It is also the only long-distance crude oil channel connecting the resources in the west of Kazakhstan and the two refineries in the east of Kazakhstan and exports to China. It undertakes the dual responsibilities of crude oil supply of the two refineries in the east of Kazakhstan and the crude oil guarantee of refineries in Western China. At present, the annual throughput of China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline accounts for about 20% of China's onshore crude oil imports. Therefore, the pipeline's safe, stable and efficient operation plays an important role in ensuring the strategic security of energy in Western China. Since the China- Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline has commissioned, it has been found that there is slack flow in the pipeline under different working conditions, which has a great impact on the safe and stable operation of the pipeline and the measurement accuracy of commercial trade. In this paper, the causes of slack flow in China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline are studied, the potential location of slack flow is analyzed, and the boundary conditions of slack flow condition are defined. At the same time, control strategies to avoid slack flow under different conditions are formulated by using simulation technology. The research results will provide direct technical case support for reasonable formulation of operation scheme of China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline system and terminal station inlet pressure control strategy, so as to ensure safe, stable and efficient operation of the pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both live attenuated (HA-L) and inactivated (HA-I) hepatitis A vaccine were licensed for routine use in China. Although phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical studies of both vaccines have been completed, further systematic evaluation of their immunogenicity and immunological persistence under phase 4 clinical studies in a wide range of conditions and involving large populations is necessary. A phase IV clinical trial (NCT02601040) was performed in 9000 participants over 18 months of age. Geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) and seroconversion rates (SRs) were compared at five time points during 3 years for 1800 individuals among them. The SRs of HA-L and HA-I were 98.08% (95% CI 95.59%–99.38%) and 99.64% (95% CI 98.93%–100.00%) respectively 28 days after administration of the first dose, and remained at 97.07% (95% CI 94.31%–98.73%) or above and 96.73% (95% CI 94.07%–98.42%) or above respectively during the following 3 years. The GMCs for both the HA-L and HA-I groups showed that both vaccines elicited high anti-HAV titres, considerably more than the threshold of protection needed against HAV infection in humans, and these titres were sustained. Hence, both HA-I and HA-L vaccines could provide an excellent long-term protective effect, and supported the routine use of both vaccines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xiong F, Sun M, Zhang X, Cai R, Zhou Y, Lou J, Zeng L, Sun Q, Xiao Q, Shang X, Wei X, Zhang T, Chen P, Xu X. Molecular epidemiological survey of haemoglobinopathies in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of southern China. Accurate and up-to-date data on the frequency of haemoglobinopathies among the populations of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where haemoglobinopathies are most endemic in China, are required. In our study, a total of 5789 samples obtained from members of the Han, Zhang, and Yao ethnic groups in six geographical areas of Guangxi Province were analysed systematically in terms of both haematological and molecular parameters. The results presented that the total heterozygote frequency of thalassaemias and other haemoglobinopathies was 24.51%, of which 17.55% was due to α-thalassaemia, 6.43% to β-thalassaemia, 0.38% to structural haemoglobin variants, and 0.16% to δ-thalassaemia. The mutational spectrum among the local population for each type of disorder was described, including the first report on the true prevalence of three silent α thalassemia defects, −α3.7/(4.78%), −α4.2/(1.61%) and Hb Westmead (αWSα/) (1.57%) and of δ-thalassemia resulting from five novel and two rare mutations never before identified in Chinese individuals. Comparison of the frequencies of α-globin mutations among the ethnic groups showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the Han (15.71%) and Zhuang (20.12%), and between the Han (15.71%) and Yao (20.84%) ethnic groups. In addition, we have performed the first extensive study of haematological parameters of the Hb Westmead mutation using a group of Chinese subjects with compound heterozygosity for this variant and an α-thalassaemia deletion. The knowledge gained in this study will enable us to estimate the health burden in this high-risk population and to elucidate the various genetic alterations that underlie haemoglobinopathies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the world, arising mostly from pre-existing adenomatous polyps (adenomas) of the large bowel. Patients with colorectal adenomas are at increased risk of colorectal cancer because of a high recurrence rate for adenomas. We followed a cohort of 1490 patients with rectal adenomas to determine whether recurrence might be related to pathologic characteristics of the initial adenomas.Methods: The patients were identified in Haining County, China, from 1977 through 1978 by means of examination with a 15-cm rigid sigmoidoscope. They were followed by endoscopic examination at years 2, 4, 6, 11, and 16 after their initial polypectomy. New adenomas in the rectum were identified in 280 patients in these follow-up examinations.Results: Statistically significant twofold to threefold elevated risks of metachronous (recurrent) adenomas were observed for patients who had more than two initial adenomas or whose most advanced initial adenoma was more than 1.0 cm in size, was of villous/tubulovillous type, or showed moderate to severe dysplasia. Much stronger associations were observed for advanced metachronous neoplasms, which are defined as cancers or adenomas with severe dysplasia, with multivariate adjusted relative risks (95% confidence interval) of 4.2 (1.8-9.9) for a large initial adenoma (>1.0 cm), 8.1 (4.2-15.6) for villous/tubulovillous architecture, and 14.4 (5.0-41.3) for severe dysplasia. In particular, patients who had a large (>1.0 cm) adenoma with severe dysplasia at baseline had a relative risk of 37 (7.8-174.7) of developing advanced metachronous neoplasms compared with patients who had small adenoma(s) with mild dysplasia.Conclusions: The risk of metachronous adenomas is closely related to the pathology of initial adenomas, thus allowing identification of a high-risk group of adenoma patients for close surveillance after their initial polypectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For large-scale immunization of children with hepatitis A (HA) vaccines in China, accurately designed studies comparing the safety and immunogenicity of the live attenuated HA vaccine (HA-L) and inactivated HA vaccine (HA-I) are necessary. A randomized, parallel controlled, phase IV clinical trial was conducted with 6000 healthy children aged 18 months to 16 years. HA-L or HA-I was administered at a ratio of 1: 1 to randomized selected participants. The safety and immunogenicity were evaluated. Both HA-L and HA-I were well tolerated by all participants. The immunogenicity results showed that the seroconversion rates (HA-L versus HA-I: 98.0% versus 100%, respectively, p >0.05), and geometric mean concentrations in participants negative for antibodies against HA virus IgG (anti-HAV IgG) before vaccination did not differ significantly between the two types of vaccines (HA-L versus HA-I first dose: 898.9 versus 886.2 mIU/mL, respectively, p >0.05). After administration of the booster dose of HA-I, the geometric mean concentrations of anti-HAV IgG (HA-I booster dose: 2591.2 mIU/mL) was higher than that after the first dose (p <0.05) and that reported in participants administered HA-L (p <0.05). Additionally, 12 (25%) of the 48 randomized selected participants who received HA-L tested positive for HA antigen in stool samples. Hence, both HA-L and HA-I could provide acceptable immunogenicity in children. The effects of long-term immunogenicity after natural exposure to wild-type HA virus and the possibility of mutational shifts of the live vaccine virus in the field need to be studied in more detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the extent of education-related health inequalities between men and women in northern rural areas in China. Health indicators; Social inequalities; Life styles; Health care services.