Prevalence and trend of hepatitis C virus infection among blood donors in Chinese mainland: a systematic review and meta-analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Blood transfusion is one of the most common transmission pathways of hepatitis C virus (HCV). This paper aims to provide a comprehensive and reliable tabulation of available data on the epidemiological characteristics and risk factors for HCV infection among blood donors in Chinese mainland, so as to help make prevention strategies and guide further research.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A systematic review was constructed based on the computerized literature database. Infection rates and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using the approximate normal distribution model. Odds ratios and 95% CI were calculated by fixed or random effects models. Data manipulation and statistical analyses were performed using STATA 10.0 and ArcGIS 9.3 was used for map construction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two hundred and sixty-five studies met our inclusion criteria. The pooled prevalence of HCV infection among blood donors in Chinese mainland was 8.68% (95% CI: 8.01%-9.39%), and the epidemic was severer in North and Central China, especially in Henan and Hebei. While a significant lower rate was found in Yunnan. Notably, before 1998 the pooled prevalence of HCV infection was 12.87% (95%CI: 11.25%-14.56%) among blood donors, but decreased to 1.71% (95%CI: 1.43%-1.99%) after 1998. No significant difference was found in HCV infection rates between male and female blood donors, or among different blood type donors. The prevalence of HCV infection was found to increase with age. During 1994-1995, the prevalence rate reached the highest with a percentage of 15.78% (95%CI: 12.21%-19.75%), and showed a decreasing trend in the following years. A significant difference was found among groups with different blood donation types, Plasma donors had a relatively higher prevalence than whole blood donors of HCV infection (33.95% <it>vs </it>7.9%).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The prevalence of HCV infection has rapidly decreased since 1998 and kept a low level in recent years, but some provinces showed relatively higher prevalence than the general population. It is urgent to make efficient measures to prevent HCV secondary transmission and control chronic progress, and the key to reduce the HCV incidence among blood donors is to encourage true voluntary blood donors, strictly implement blood donation law, and avoid cross-infection.</p

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe

Brain grey matter changes in young patients with mild type of essential arms tremor: a voxel-based morphometry MRI study

Traditional Poster Session: Neuro A - Movement Disorders & DegenerationEssential tremor (ET) is common neurological movement disorders and may be related to cerebella dysregulation. The variation of grey matter (GM) in ET patients has remained uncertain from previous MRI studies, especially in mild type of essential arms tremor (a-ET). In this MRI study, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method was used to detect the morphological changes of GM in 8 young patients with mild a-ET with respect to 8 healthy subjects. The mild a-ET patients exhibited the decrease of GM density in bilateral parietal lobe and the increase in GM density in bilateral cerebellum, occipital lobe and temporal occipital fusiform cortex. These findings may be associated with the network changes of cerebelo-thalamo-cortical loop in mild a-ET. The atrophy of GM in bilateral parietal lobe might represent the diminished capacity of spatial erientation and proprioceptive sensibility in a-ET patients. Moreover, mild a-ET shows a relative expansion of GM areas involved in higher order visuospatial processing, which might represent the adaptive reorganizational compensating through the increased demand on the visuospatial control of skilled movements in the early stage of a-ET. These morphological changes may help to assess early stage and distinguish subtype of ET. (Abstract by ISMRM)link_to_OA_fulltex

Preparation and characterization of diamond-silicon carbide-silicon composites by gaseous silicon vacuum infiltration process

Diamond–SiC–Si composites have been prepared using gaseous silicon vacuum infiltration. The evolution of the phases and microstructures of the composites have been analyzed using X-ray diffraction technique and scanning electron microscopy. It has been found that the diamond–SiC–Si composite is composed of β-SiC, diamond, and residual Si. The diamond particles were distributed homogeneously in the dense matrix of the composites. Besides, the effects of particle size and content of diamond on the properties of diamond–SiC–Si composites have been analyzed. The thermal conductivity of the composites increases with particle size and content of diamond. When the particle size and content of diamond are 300 µm and 80 wt %, respectively, the thermal conductivity of the composites approaches the value of 280 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹.Проведен анализ эволюции фаз и микроструктуры композитов алмаз–SiC–Si, изготовленных с использованием процесса вакуумной инфильтрации газообразного кремния. Исследование выполнено с помощью дифракции рентгеновских лучей и сканирующей электронной микроскопии. Установлено, что композит алмаз–SiC–Si состоит из β-SiC, алмаза и остаточного Si. Алмазные частицы распределены однородно в плотной матрице композитов. Также проанализировано влияние размера частиц и содержания алмазов на свойства композитов алмаз–SiC–Si. Показано, что теплопроводность композитов возрастает с увеличением размера частиц и содержания алмазов. Теплопроводность композитов приближается к значению 280 Вт∙м⁻¹∙K⁻¹ при размере частиц и содержании алмаза 300 мкм и 80 % (по массе), соответственно.Проведено аналіз еволюції фаз і мікроструктури композитів алмаз–SiC–Si, виготовлених з використанням процесу вакуумної інфільтрації газоподібного кремнію. Дослідження виконано за допомогою дифракції рентгенівських променів і скануючої електронної мікроскопії. Встановлено, що композит алмаз–SiC–Si складається з β-SiC, алмазу і залишкового Si. Алмазні частки розподілені однорідно в щільній матриці композитів. Також проаналізовано вплив розміру частинок і вмісту алмазів на властивості композитів алмаз–SiC–Si. Показано, що теплопровідність композитів зростає зі збільшенням розміру частинок і вмісту алмазів. Теплопровідність композитів наближається до значення 280 Вт∙м⁻¹∙K⁻¹ при розмірі частинок і вмісту алмазу 300 мкм і 80 % (за масою) відповідно.This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 51102282) and Aid Program for Science and Technology Innovative Research Team in Higher Educational Institutions of Hunan Province

Small suppression of the complete fusion of the Li-6+Zr-96 system at near-barrier energies

The measurements of complete fusion cross sections for 6Li+96Zr have been performed at energies around the Coulomb barrier by the online γ-ray method. The complete fusion cross sections at above-barrier energies were found to be suppressed by ∼25%. A comparison of the systematics of complete fusion suppression with the existing data for 6Li+ heavy targets with the present results shows that the systematics of the suppression factor observed for 6Li-induced fusion in the heavy mass region may not be consistent in lighter target mass region.status: publishe

Coupling effects on the fusion of Li-6+Sm-154 at energies slightly above the Coulomb barrier

Measurements of complete and incomplete fusion cross sections for 6Li+154Sm have been performed at energies above the Coulomb barrier by the online γ-ray method, to investigate the effect of breakup and inelastic couplings on the complete fusion (CF) of this weakly bound system. We show that inelastic excitation couplings have non-negligible effects, when compared with the breakup effect, for deformed nuclei at energies very close to the Coulomb barrier. The average CF suppression corresponding to dynamic breakup effects was found to be around 35%. The total fusion cross section is not affected by the breakup coupling. A comparison between the 6Li-induced CF suppression for three different samarium isotopes shows that the breakup effect is larger for the more spherical isotope.status: publishe