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Context: Urban-rural disparity is an important issue for injury control in China. Details of the urban-rural disparities in fatal injuries have not been analyzed. Purpose: To target key injury causes that most contribute to the urban-rural disparity, we decomposed total urban-rural differences in 2006 injury mortality by gender, age, and cause. Methods: Mortality data came from the Chinese Vital Registration data, covering a sample of about 10% of the total population. The chi-square test was used to test the significance of urban-rural disparities. Findings: For all ages combined, the injury death rate for males was 60.1/100,000 in rural areas compared with 40.9 in urban areas; for females, the respective rates were 31.5 and 23.6/100,000. The greatest disparity was at age less than 1 year for both sexes, where the rate from unintentional suffocation in rural areas was more than twice the urban rate. The higher mortality from drowning among males of all ages and among females ages 1-24 and 35+ contributed substantially to the age-specific urban-rural disparities. For both sexes, transportation incidents and suicide were the most important contributors to higher rates among rural residents ages 15+. Conclusions: Unintentional suffocation, drowning, transportation incidents, and suicide not only are the major causes of injury death, but also play a key role in explaining the urban-rural disparities in fatal injuries. Further research is needed to identify factors leading to higher rural death rates and to explore economical and feasible interventions for reducing injuries and narrowing the urban-rural gap in injury mortality.

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease, first described in China in 1984, causes hemorrhagic necrosis of the liver. Its etiological agent, rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), belongs to the Lagovirus genus in the family Caliciviridae. The detailed molecular structure of any lagovirus capsid has yet to be determined. Here, we report a cryo-electron microscopic (cryoEM) reconstruction of wild-type RHDV at 6.5 Å resolution and the crystal structures of the shell (S) and protruding (P) domains of its major capsid protein, VP60, each at 2.0 Å resolution. From these data we built a complete atomic model of the RHDV capsid. VP60 has a conserved S domain and a specific P2 sub-domain that differs from those found in other caliciviruses. As seen in the shell portion of the RHDV cryoEM map, which was resolved to ~5.5 Å, the N-terminal arm domain of VP60 folds back onto its cognate S domain. Sequence alignments of VP60 from six groups of RHDV isolates revealed seven regions of high variation that could be mapped onto the surface of the P2 sub-domain and suggested three putative pockets might be responsible for binding to histo-blood group antigens. A flexible loop in one of these regions was shown to interact with rabbit tissue cells and contains an important epitope for anti-RHDV antibody production. Our study provides a reliable, pseudo-atomic model of a Lagovirus and suggests a new candidate for an efficient vaccine that can be used to protect rabbits from RHDV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To compare death rates from road traffic injuries in China in 2002-2007 when derived from police-reported data versus death registration data. Methods In China, police-recorded data are obtained from police records by means of a standardized, closed-ended data collection form; these data are published in the China statistical yearbook of communication and transportation. Official death registration data, on the other hand, are obtained from death certificates completed by physicians and are published in the China health statistics yearbook. We searched both sources for data on road traffic deaths in 2002-2007, used the α2 test to compare the mortality rates obtained, and performed linear regression to look for statistically significant trends in road traffic mortality over the period. Findings For 2002-2007, the rate of death from road traffic injuries based on death registration data was about twice as high as the rate reported by the police. Linear regression showed a significant decrease of 27% (95% confidence interval, CI: 35-19) in the death rate over the period according to police sources but no significant change according to death registration data. Conclusion The widely-cited recent drop in road traffic mortality in China, based on police-reported data, may not reflect a genuine decrease. The quality of the data obtained from police reports, which drives decision-making by the Government of China and international organizations, needs to be investigated, monitored and improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Urban-rural disparity is an important issue for injury control in China. Details of the urban-rural disparities in fatal injuries have not been analyzed. Purpose: To target key injury causes that most contribute to the urban-rural disparity, we decomposed total urban-rural differences in 2006 injury mortality by gender, age, and cause. Methods: Mortality data came from the Chinese Vital Registration data, covering a sample of about 10% of the total population. The chi-square test was used to test the significance of urban-rural disparities. Findings: For all ages combined, the injury death rate for males was 60.1/100,000 in rural areas compared with 40.9 in urban areas; for females, the respective rates were 31.5 and 23.6/100,000. The greatest disparity was at age <1 year for both sexes, where the rate from unintentional suffocation in rural areas was more than twice the urban rate. The higher mortality from drowning among males of all ages and among females ages 1-24 and 35+ contributed substantially to the age-specific urban-rural disparities. For both sexes, transportation incidents and suicide were the most important contributors to higher rates among rural residents ages 15+. Conclusions: Unintentional suffocation, drowning, transportation incidents, and suicide not only are the major causes of injury death, but also play a key role in explaining the urban-rural disparities in fatal injuries. Further research is needed to identify factors leading to higher rural death rates and to explore economical and feasible interventions for reducing injuries and narrowing the urban-rural gap in injury mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Urban-rural disparity is an important issue for injury control in China. Details of the urban-rural disparities in fatal injuries have not been analyzed., Purpose: To target key injury causes that most contribute to the urban-rural disparity, we decomposed total urban-rural differences in 2006 injury mortality by gender, age, and cause., Methods: Mortality data came from the Chinese Vital Registration data, covering a sample of about 10% of the total population. The chi-square test was used to test the significance of urban-rural disparities., Findings: For all ages combined, the injury death rate for males was 60.1/100,000 in rural areas compared with 40.9 in urban areas; for females, the respective rates were 31.5 and 23.6/100,000. The greatest disparity was at age <1 year for both sexes, where the rate from unintentional suffocation in rural areas was more than twice the urban rate. The higher mortality from drowning among males of all ages and among females ages 1-24 and 35+ contributed substantially to the age-specific urban-rural disparities. For both sexes, transportation incidents and suicide were the most important contributors to higher rates among rural residents ages 15+., Conclusions: Unintentional suffocation, drowning, transportation incidents, and suicide not only are the major causes of injury death, but also play a key role in explaining the urban-rural disparities in fatal injuries. Further research is needed to identify factors leading to higher rural death rates and to explore economical and feasible interventions for reducing injuries and narrowing the urban-rural gap in injury mortality.

This paper describes research relating to the major recall of pet food that occurred in Spring 2007 in North America. Clinical observations of acute renal failure in cats and dogs were associated with consumption of wet pet food produced by a contract manufacturer producing for a large number of companies. The affected lots of food had been formulated with wheat gluten originating from China. Pet food and gluten were analyzed for contaminants using several configurations of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS), which revealed a number of simple triazine compounds, principally melamine and cyanuric acid, with lower concentrations of ammeline, ammelide, ureidomelamine, and N-methylmelamine. Melamine and cyanuric acid, have been tested and do not produce acute renal toxicity. Some of the triazines have poor solubility, as does the compound melamine cyanurate. Pathological evaluation of cats and dogs that had died from the acute renal failure indicated the presence of crystals in kidney tubules. We hypothesized that these crystals were composed of the poorly soluble triazines, a melamine-cyanuric acid complex, or a combination. Sprague dawley rats were given up to 100 mg/kg ammeline or ammelide alone, a mixture of melamine and cyanuric acid (400/400 mg/kg/day), or a mixture of all four compounds (400 mg/kg/day melamine, 40 mg/kg/day of the others). Neither ammeline nor ammelide alone produced any renal effects, but the mixtures produced significant renal damage and crystals in nephrons. HPLC-MS/MS confirmed the presence of melamine and cyanuric acid in the kidney. Infrared microspectroscopy on individual crystals from rat or cat (donated material from a veterinary clinic) kidneys confirmed that they were melamine-cyanuric acid cocrystals. Crystals from contaminated gluten produced comparable spectra. These results establish the causal link between the contaminated gluten and the adverse effects and provide a mechanistic explanation for how two apparently innocuous compounds could have adverse effects in combination, that is, by forming an insoluble precipitate in renal tubules leading to progressive tubular blockage and degeneration.