Sustained high prevalence of viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections among female sex workers in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The 1980's economic boom has been associated with a rapid expansion of China's sex industry over the past three decades. Consequently, the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and hepatitis infections among female sex workers (FSW) has become an important public health issue in China. This study identifies prevalence and risks of hepatitis and STIs in Chinese FSWs. METHOD: Four electronic databases were searched for Chinese and English language peer-reviewed studies conducted between 01/2000-12/2011 that reported prevalence of hepatitis and STIs (excluding HIV) among Chinese FSW. Following the PRISMA guidelines, meta-analysis was used to estimate pooled prevalence and 95% confidence intervals for each infection. RESULT: Three hundred and thirty nine articles (34 in English and 305 in Chinese) investigating 603,647 FSWs in 29 Chinese provinces were included in this review. Over the period 2000-2011, the seroprevalence of active hepatitis B and hepatitis C among FSW were 10.7% (7.3-15.5%) and 1.0% (0.7-1.3%), respectively. The most prevalent STI was human papillomavirus (HPV, 27.0% [10.1-55.1%]), followed by herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2, 15.8% [11.7-20.9%]), chlamydia (13.7% [12.1-15.4%]), gonorrhoea (6.1% [5.3-7.0%]), syphilis (5.2% [4.8-5.7%]), genital warts (3.3% [2.5-4.2%]) and Trichomonas vaginitis (2.1% [1.5-24.2%]). Disease burden of both hepatitis and STI among FSW were concentrated in South Central and Southwest China. In particular, chlamydia and syphilis demonstrated a significant declining trend during the studied period (P < 0.05). Compared with the general Chinese population, FSW had significantly higher prevalence of all STIs except Trichomonas vaginitis. Further, compared to the general FSW population, HIV-positive FSW had significantly higher prevalence of syphilis, chlamydia, HSV-2 and Trichomonas vaginitis. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of hepatitis and STIs remained high and mostly stable among Chinese FSW over the period of 2000-2011. Targeted STI and hepatitis surveillance and interventions should be strengthened among Chinese FSWs, especially those who are HIV-positive

Sustained high prevalence of viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections among female sex workers in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background The 1980’s economic boom has been associated with a rapid expansion of China’s sex industry over the past three decades. Consequently, the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and hepatitis infections among female sex workers (FSW) has become an important public health issue in China. This study identifies prevalence and risks of hepatitis and STIs in Chinese FSWs. Method Four electronic databases were searched for Chinese and English language peer-reviewed studies conducted between 01/2000-12/2011 that reported prevalence of hepatitis and STIs (excluding HIV) among Chinese FSW. Following the PRISMA guidelines, meta-analysis was used to estimate pooled prevalence and 95 % confidence intervals for each infection. Result Three hundred and thirty nine articles (34 in English and 305 in Chinese) investigating 603,647 FSWs in 29 Chinese provinces were included in this review. Over the period 2000–2011, the seroprevalence of active hepatitis B and hepatitis C among FSW were 10.7 % (7.3–15.5 %) and 1.0 % (0.7–1.3 %), respectively. The most prevalent STI was human papillomavirus (HPV, 27.0 % [10.1–55.1 %]), followed by herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2, 15.8 % [11.7–20.9 %]), chlamydia (13.7 % [12.1–15.4 %]), gonorrhoea (6.1 % [5.3–7.0 %]), syphilis (5.2 % [4.8–5.7 %]), genital warts (3.3 % [2.5–4.2 %]) and Trichomonas vaginitis (2.1 % [1.5–24.2 %]). Disease burden of both hepatitis and STI among FSW were concentrated in South Central and Southwest China. In particular, chlamydia and syphilis demonstrated a significant declining trend during the studied period (P < 0.05). Compared with the general Chinese population, FSW had significantly higher prevalence of all STIs except Trichomonas vaginitis. Further, compared to the general FSW population, HIV-positive FSW had significantly higher prevalence of syphilis, chlamydia, HSV-2 and Trichomonas vaginitis. Conclusion Prevalence of hepatitis and STIs remained high and mostly stable among Chinese FSW over the period of 2000–2011. Targeted STI and hepatitis surveillance and interventions should be strengthened among Chinese FSWs, especially those who are HIV-positive

Effect of Aeration Rates and Filter Media Heights on the Performance of Pollutant Removal in an Up-Flow Biological Aerated Filter

The biological aerated filter (BAF) is an effective biological treatment technology which removes the pollutants in municipal wastewater secondary treatment. However, we still know little about the interaction between the pollutants removal and microbes within the BAF. In this study, we used an up-flow BAF (UBAF) reactor to investigate the relationships between the pollutants removal and microbial community structure at different aeration rates and filter media heights. The microbial community of biofilm was analyzed by Illumina pyrosequencing. Our results showed that the UBAF achieved a better removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD), NH4+-N, NO3&minus;-N, and total phosphorus (TP) at an aeration rate of 65 L/h. In addition, the COD and NH4+-N removal mainly occurred at 0&ndash;25 cm height of filter media. The microbial community structure in the UBAF demonstrated that the relative abundance of the Planctomycetes and Comamonadaceae at 10 cm height of filter media were 11% and 48.1%, respectively, proportions significantly higher than those under others treatments. Finally, the changes in relative abundance of Proteobacteria, Planctomycetes, and Nitrospirae likely explained the mechanism of nitrogen and phosphorus removal. Our results showed that suitable conditions could enhance the microbial community structure to achieve a high pollutants removal in the UBAF

Novel heterozygous variant of ADPRHL2 causes pathogenic variation in CONDSIAS

Adprhl2 (OMIM: 610624) mutation associated stress-induced childhood-onset neurodegeneration with variable ataxia and seizures (CONDSIAS, OMIM: 618170) is a sporadic neurodegenerative disease with poor prognosis. ADPRHL2 encodes ADP-ribosylhydrolase 3 (ARH3), which participates in ADP-ribosylation to remove poly-ADP ribose (PAR). We found a new compound heterozygous mutation in the ADPRHL2 gene c.580C > T (p.Gln194Ter) and c.803-1G > A in a 30-month-old boy, who showed gait instability, abnormal EEG, and developmental delay after respiratory infection. He died of convulsions 4 months after onset. By constructing a mutant plasmid and using Western blot to detect the expression of ARH3 and PAR, it was demonstrated that the ADPRHL2 gene c.580C > T (p.Gln194Ter) and c.803-1G > A is pathogenic according to ACMG guidelines

Significant Improvement of Anticorrosion Properties of Zinc-Containing Coating Using Sodium Polystyrene Sulfonate Noncovalent Modified Graphene Dispersions

High-quality graphene zinc-containing anticorrosive coatings are highly and urgently desirable for effective, economical anticorrosion of metals and alloys in industrial products. The realization of such coatings is, however, hindered by the dispersibility and compatibility of the graphene in them. This work reports a novel direct modification of graphene using sodium polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) without reduction of graphene oxide, leading to homogeneous dispersion of graphene in water. The agglomeration of graphene is prevented thanks to the formation of π−π interaction between PSS and graphene sheets. Such graphene dispersion can effectively improve the anticorrosion performance of the zinc-containing epoxy coatings. With the addition of graphene modified by PSS into the 20% zinc-containing epoxy coating (graphene is 0.05% by weight of the coating), its anticorrosion properties revealed by both electrochemical characterization and the neutral salt spray tolerance analysis are rather close to those of 60% zinc-containing epoxy coating. These results demonstrate that direct PSS modification is an effective method for graphene dispersion and thus open a pathway to achieve graphene zinc-containing anticorrosive coatings with high performance