Antecedents and consequences of pediatric dog-bite injuries and their developmental trends: 101 cases in rural China

OBJECTIVE

Study the contextual antecedents and consequences of pediatric dog bites in rural China.

METHODS

A total of 101 caregivers from rural Anhui Province, China, whose children had suffered dog-bite injuries in the past year, participated in a structured interview about the circumstances, antecedents and consequences of their child's injury.

RESULTS

Contextual circumstances identified frequently included outside-home environment and presence of peers but not adult supervisors. Frequent antecedents were dogs' initiation of the encounter, children walking to/from school, and dogs unleashed. Consequences to children identified frequently were rabies vaccines, restricted activity, and fear of dogs. Developmental trends emerged, with bite circumstances differing by children's ages.

CONCLUSIONS

These results offer data on common antecedents and consequences of pediatric dog bites in rural China, a necessary prerequisite for development of empirically supported prevention programs in a vulnerable population.

Dog safety in rural China: children's sources of safety information and effect on knowledge, attitudes, and practices

Dog bites are a significant pediatric public health challenge in rural China. This study evaluated the effect of various sources of dog-safety information on children's knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices with dogs. A total of 1925 children (grade 3-6) between 6 and 15 years old in four rural regions across China participated between May and September 2012. Results showed that teachers and especially parents were effective information sources for children to learn about dog safety. Learning from peers and children teaching themselves were ineffective education strategies. Multi-source learning (from both parents and teachers) did not differ from single-source learning (from parents but not teachers) but did exceed learning from teachers but not parents or no learning from adults. Older age was associated with greater safety knowledge but also riskier practices with dogs. Girls generally held more safety knowledge, less risky attitudes/beliefs and safer practices than boys. Neither age nor gender interacted with information sources on outcome measures. In conclusion, parents appear to play a major role in educating children in rural China on dog safety. Future dog safety interventions might focus on changing cognition and behavior as well as delivering basic knowledge to youth through teachers and especially parents.

Distinct HLA allele and haplotype distributions in four ethnic groups of China

Distinct human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele and haplotype distributions occur in the northern and southern Han populations of China. However, different ethnic groups in China show limited regional distributions for many HLA alleles and haplotypes. Therefore, it is necessary and meaningful to study the differences in HLA allele and haplotype distribution for northern and southern ethnic groups of China. A total of 428 unrelated individuals from the Lisu, Nu, Tu and Yugur ethnic populations were genotyped for HLA-A, -B, -C and -DRB1 alleles using the PCR-Luminex typing method. The frequencies of HLA alleles and statistically inferred haplotypes were calculated. A total of 29 HLA-A, 54 HLA-B, 27 HLA-C and 41 HLA-DRB1 alleles were spread throughout these four populations with distinct allele and deduced haplotype frequencies between populations. Some alleles and deduced haplotypes exhibited significantly different distributions between northern (Tu and Yugur) and southern groups (Lisu and Nu). A phylogenetic tree and principal component analysis were used to compare the HLA polymorphism between our dataset and 19 other eastern and southeastern Asian populations. This analysis showed that Lisu and Nu belong to a cluster of southern ethnic groups, while Tu and Yugur are most closely related to other northern groups. Thus, distinct ethnic population histories were revealed by analyzing HLA allelic polymorphisms with the HLA profiles of the Lisu and Nu southern Chinese ethnic groups clearly different from the Tu and Yugur northern ethnic groups. The results will be useful for future association studies of infectious disease and contribute toward a more efficient search of organ/tissue matches for transplantation.

A review on steroidal 5α-reductase inhibitors for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a kind of common noncancerous prostate gland enlargement with growing tendency in recent years. 5α-reductase is the key enzyme responsible for dihydrotestosterone biosynthesis and has been considered as an important target for designing inhibitors as potent therapeutic agents for BPH. Finasteride, the first steroidal 5α-reductase inhibitor, has been marketed worldwide as a drug for BPH. During these years, many other novel types of 5α-reductase inhibitors are being studied. This review summarizes recent advancement in steroidal 5α-reductase inhibitors.

Detection of Laribacter hongkongensis using species-specific duplex PCR assays targeting the 16S rRNA gene and the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer region (ISR)

AIMS

For the rapid detection of Laribacter hongkongensis, which is associated with human community-acquired gastroenteritis and traveller's diarrhoea, we developed a duplex species-specific PCR assay.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Full-length of the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer region (ISR) sequences of 52 L. hongkongensis isolates were obtained by PCR-based sequencing. Two species-specific primer pairs targeting 16S rRNA gene and ISR were designed for duplex PCR detection of L. hongkongensis. The L. hongkongensis species-specific duplex PCR assay showed 100% specificity, and the minimum detectable level was 2.1 × 10(-2) ng μl(-1) genomic DNA which corresponds to 5000 CFU ml(-1).

CONCLUSIONS

The high specificity and sensitivity of the assay make it suitable for rapid detection of L. hongkongensis.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

This species-specific duplex PCR method provides a rapid, simple, and reliable alternative to conventional methods to identify L. hongkongensis and may have applications in both clinical and environmental microbiology.

Injury-related childhood mortality in migrant households in a southern city of China

BACKGROUND

Sporadic evidence from China suggests that migrant children are at higher risk of injury-related mortality than local indigenous children.

METHODS

Child deaths from 2004 to 2008 were provided by the Shenzhen Women and Child Health Surveillance System. Population data for children 1-4 years old were obtained from the Shenzhen Bureau of Statistics and number of live births was obtained from birth registration records. All-cause and injury-related childhood mortality rates and death causes were calculated and compared.

RESULTS

A total of 3774 deaths were identified. All-cause mortality rates per 10,000 dropped significantly from 66.28 (95% CI 60.50 to 72.06) in infants (<1 year old) and 7.40 (95% CI 6.16 to 8.64) in early childhood (1-4 years old) in 2004 to 40.42 (95% CI 37.31 to 43.53) and 3.97 (95% CI 3.36 to 4.58) in 2008. However, injury-related mortality rates did not change significantly from 2.36 (95% CI 1.27 to 3.45) in infants and 2.97 (95% CI 2.19 to 3.76) in early childhood in 2004 to 2.00 (95% CI 1.31 to 2.69) and 2.00 (95% CI 1.56 to 2.43) in 2008. Injury-related mortality rates were significantly higher among migrant children (p<0.05). Drowning and traffic crashes were the top two causes of early childhood injury deaths; suffocation was the leading cause of infant injury deaths.

CONCLUSION

Migrant children were at significantly higher risk of injury-related mortality than local indigenous children. Injury prevention in Shenzhen should target drowning and traffic safety among young children and suffocation among infants as top priorities.

Recent advancement in nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitors for treatment of estrogen-dependent breast cancer

Estrogen-dependent breast cancer (EDBC) is a kind of common malignant tumor in postmenopausal women with growing tendency in recent years. Aromatase (AR) is the key enzyme responsible for estrogen biosynthesis and has been considered as an important target for designing inhibitors as potent therapeutic agents for EDBC. AR inhibitors (AIs) are divided into steroidal and nonsteroidal compounds, and the latter shows high inhibitory potency against AR. This review summarizes recent advancement in nonsteroidal AIs.

Influence of RNAi knockdown for E-complex genes on the silkworm proleg development

Larvae of many holometabolous insects possess abdominal appendages called prolegs. Lepidoptera larvae have prolegs in the segments A3-A6. Functions of Lepidoptera hox genes on these abdominal appendages development is still a controversial issue. In this article, we report the use of double strand RNA (dsRNA)-mediated interference (RNAi) to dissect the function of some hox genes, specifically E-complex genes Ubx, abd-A, and Abd-B, in the ventral appendage development of the Lepidoptera silkworm, Bombyx mori. We found that Ubx RNAi caused leg identity in A1 segment, abd-A RNAi caused severe defect of abdominal prolegs and Abd-B RNAi allowed proleg identity in more posterior abdominal segments. These results confirm that Lepidoptera hox genes Ubx and Abd-B have evolved the repressing function to ventral appendage development, which is similar to those of Drosophila. However, Lepidoptera abd-A might have been modified distinctively during evolution, and has important roles in directing the development of prolegs.

Improving emergency preparedness capability of rural public health personnel in China

OBJECTIVES

Since the outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome and avian influenza, improving the emergency preparedness capability of rural public health personnel has become a new priority in building the infrastructure needed to address public health emergencies. The Chinese Government has carried out a series of emergency preparedness education and training programmes to improve the emergency preparedness capability of rural public health personnel nationwide. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and develop a participatory emergency preparedness training programme for rural public health personnel.

STUDY DESIGN

The research emphasizes the major components of instructional design, including assessing, designing, delivering and evaluating training. The approach is an integrated system with results from one phase influencing the next, so that a series of steps are followed when developing, implementing and evaluating emergency preparedness training.

METHODS

The 226 participants were rural public health personnel from 84 different rural centres for disease control and prevention in China. The programme was evaluated by anonymous questionnaires and semi-structured interviews held prior to training, immediately post-training and 12-months after training (follow-up).

RESULTS

The emergency preparedness training resulted in positive shifts in knowledge and skills for rural public health personnel. At follow-up, the knowledge and skill scores of participants declined slightly compared with the post-test levels (P>0.05). However, there was a significant increase compared with the pre-test levels (P<0.01). Moreover, more than 90% of participants reported that this training provided a valuable learning experience and reinforced the importance of emergency preparedness.

CONCLUSIONS

The emergency preparedness training programme was effective and feasible in improving the performance of rural public health personnel on emergency response. Further studies are needed to test the efficacy of the training approach for competency improvement.