Increasing prevalence of HIV and syphilis but decreasing rate of self-reported unprotected anal intercourse among men who had sex with men in Harbin, China: results of five consecutive surveys from 2006 to 2010

Background To monitor the prevalence of HIV and syphilis as well as behaviours, a sentinel site for men who have sex with men was established in Harbin in 2002. With additional funding, the sentinel surveillance evolved into annual cross-sectional surveys since 2006. Methods Behavioural and serological data collected in five consecutive cross-sectional surveys were analysed. SPSS 13.0 was applied to compare prevalence of HIV and syphilis as well as behavioural variables over time by demographic variables, bivariate and multivariate analysis. Results The prevalence of HIV and syphilis increased from 1.0% in 2006 to 7.5% in 2010 and from 9.2% in 2006 to 22.4% in 2009, respectively, whereas the rate of unprotected anal intercourse decreased from 61.3% in 2006 to 47.1% in 2010. Syphilis positivity and HIV infection are independently associated with each other across years. The rate of unprotected anal sex remains high although it has decreased over the years. Conclusion Findings support an increasing prevalence of HIV and syphilis among men who have sex with men in Harbin. Targeted behavioural intervention and syphilis treatment are urgently needed to prevent the epidemic from growin

Is there an association between mild cognitive impairment and dietary pattern in chinese elderly? Results from a cross-sectional population study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diet has an impact on cognitive function in most prior studies but its association with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in Chinese nonagenarians and centenarians has not been explored.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>870 elder dujiangyan residents aged 90 years or more in 2005 census were investigated at community halls or at home. They underwent the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for assessment of cognitive function and replied to our questionnaire comprised of 12 food items and other risk factors. MCI was defined by two steps: first, subjects with post-stroke disease, Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease and MMSE< 18 were excluded; and then subjects were categorized as MCI (MMSE scores between 19 and 24) and normal (MMSE scores between 25 and 30). Logistic regression models were used to analyze the association between diet and the prevalence of MCI. The model was adjusted for gender, ages, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, smoking habits, alcohol and tea consumption, educational levels and exercise in baseline dietary assessment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>364 elderly finally included, 108 (38.71%) men and 171 (61.29%) women of whom were classified as MCI. A significant correlation between MCI and normal in legume was observed (OR, 0.84; 95%CI, 0.72-0.97), and also in animal oil (any oil that obtained from animal substances) (OR, 0.93; 95%CI, 0.88-0.98). There was no statistical difference of other food items between normal and MCI.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Among Chinese nonagenarians and centenarians, we found there were significant associations between inadequate intake of legume and animal oil and the prevalence of MCI. No significant correlation between other food items and the prevalence of MCI were demonstrated in this study.</p

Knowledge and risk behaviors related to HIV/AIDS, and their association with information resource among men who have sex with men in Heilongjiang province, China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Backgroud</p> <p>In Heilongjiang province, the HIV prevalence in men who have sex with men (MSM) is generally lower than other part of China. However, the official perception for their risk of HIV/AIDS infection has been increasing in the province over the years. Moreover, little information on HIV/AIDS was provided to the communities so that we have disadvantage of controlling HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of HIV among MSM in Heilongjiang province, to assess their knowledge levels and risk behaviors related to HIV/AIDS, and to explore their associations with information resources.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study using a standardized questionnaire and blood test was administered in 2008 by local interviewers to a sample (1353) of MSM in four cities in Heilongjiang province.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among 1353 MSM, 2.3% were identified with HIV infection. About 48.7% of the subjects had multiple male sexual partners and only 37.3% of the subjects had consistent condom use (use every time) in the past 6 months. Most had a fair level of knowledge on HIV/AIDS, with the highest mean knowledge score among the MSM from Jiamusi, those with income 2000-3000 RMB/month, those searching sexual partners via internet and those performed HIV testing over 1 year ago). However, some myths regarding viral transmission (e.g., via mosquito bites or sharing kitchen utensils) also existed. Resources of information from which knowledge and risk behaviors related to HIV/AIDS was most available were television (58.6%) among MSM, followed by sexual partner (51.6%), publicity material (51.0%) and internet (48.7%). Significantly statistical differences of mean knowledge score were revealed in favor of book (<it>P </it>= 0.0002), medical staff (<it>P </it>= 0.0007), publicity material (<it>P </it>= 0.005) and sexual partner (<it>P </it>= 0.02). Press (<it>P </it>= 0.04) and book (<it>P </it>= 0.0003) were contributory to the most frequent condom use (condom use every time), while medical staff (<it>P </it>= 0.005) and publicity material (<it>P </it>= 0.04) is associated with moderate rate of condom use (condom use often).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although the prevalence of HIV infection is low among MSM in Heilongjiang province, the situation that the risk behaviors were frequent in the population is alarming. The study suggests that some strategies like condom use and education intervention are practical approaches and need to be strengthened.</p

Intelligence in Tourism Management: A Hybrid FOA-BP Method on Daily Tourism Demand Forecasting with Web Search Data

The Chinese tourism industry has been developing rapidly for the past several years, and the number of people traveling has been increasing year by year. However, many problems still beset current tourism management. Lack of effective management has caused numerous problems, such as tourists stranded during tourist season and the declining service quality of scenic spots, which have become the focus of tourists&rsquo; attention. Network search data can intuitively reflect the attention of most users through the combination of the network search index and the back propagation (BP) neural network model. This study predicts the daily tourism demand in the Huangshan scenic spot in China. The filtered keyword in the Baidu index is added to the hybrid neural network, and a BP neural network model optimized by a fruit fly optimization algorithm (FOA) based on the web search data is established in this study. Different forecasting methods are compared in this paper; the results prove that compared with other prediction models, higher accuracy can be obtained when it comes to the peak season using the FOA-BP method that includes web search data, which is a sustainable means of practically solving the tourism management problem by a more accurate prediction of tourism demand of scenic spots

DEA based production planning considering technology heterogeneity with undesirable outputs

Many researchers have concentrated on production planning issues by using data envelopment analysis (DEA). However, the assumption made by existing approaches that all decision making units (DMUs) are equipped with the same level of production technology is not realistic. Additionally, with the development in the society, environmental factors have come to play important roles in the production process as well. Thus, undesirable outputs should be considered in production planning problems. Therefore, this paper considers the technology heterogeneity factors and undesirable outputs using the data envelopment analysis-based production planning approach. Two examples containing a numerical example that compare with other method and a real sample that concerns the industrial development of 30 provinces in China are used to validate the applicability of our approach

Prediction of the effects of small molecules on the gut microbiome using machine learning method integrating with optimal molecular features

Abstract Background The human gut microbiome (HGM), consisting of trillions of microorganisms, is crucial to human health. Adverse drug use is one of the most important causes of HGM disorder. Thus, it is necessary to identify drugs or compounds with anti-commensal effects on HGM in the early drug discovery stage. This study proposes a novel anti-commensal effects classification using a machine learning method and optimal molecular features. To improve the prediction performance, we explored combinations of six fingerprints and three descriptors to filter the best characterization as molecular features. Results The final consensus model based on optimal features yielded the F1-score of 0.725 ± 0.014, ACC of 82.9 ± 0.7%, and AUC of 0.791 ± 0.009 for five-fold cross-validation. In addition, this novel model outperformed the prior studies by using the same algorithm. Furthermore, the important chemical descriptors and misclassified anti-commensal compounds are analyzed to better understand and interpret the model. Finally, seven structural alerts responsible for the chemical anti-commensal effect are identified, implying valuable information for drug design. Conclusion Our study would be a promising tool for screening anti-commensal compounds in the early stage of drug discovery and assessing the potential risks of these drugs in vivo