The diversity of human papillomavirus infection among human immunodeficiency virus-infected women in Yunnan, China Other viruses (e.g. pox, papilloma, parvo, reoviridae)

Background: Yunnan has one of the oldest and the most severe human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemics in China. We conducted an observational study to evaluate the human papillomavirus (HPV) genotype distribution in relation to cervical neoplastic disease risk among HIV-infected women in Yunnan. Methods: We screened 301 HIV-infected non-pregnant women in Mangshi prefecture in Yunnan province. All consenting participants underwent simultaneous and independent assessment by cervical cytology, colposcopy-histopathology, and HPV genotyping. Unadjusted and multivariable-adjusted multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate factors associated with single or multiple carcinogenic HPV genotypes. Results: HPV genotypes were present in 43.5% (131/301) overall, and carcinogenic HPV genotypes were present in 37.5% (113/301) women. Among women with carcinogenic HPV genotypes, 80 (70.8% of 113) had a single carcinogenic HPV type, while 33 (29.2%) women had multiple (2 or more) carcinogenic HPV types. Overall, the most common carcinogenic HPV types were HPV52 (7.3%), HPV58 (6.6%), HPV18 (6.3%), HPV16 (6.0%), and HPV33 (5.3%). In women with cervical precancerous lesions (i.e., high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions [HSIL] on cytology or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse [CIN2+] detected on colposcopy-histology), the most commonly detected genotypes were HPV16 (28.6%), HPV52 (25.0%), HPV58 (17.9%), HPV18 (10.7%) and HPV31 (10.7%). Increasing age was an independent risk factor associated with presence of single carcinogenic HPV types (adjusted odds ratio: 1.04, 95%CI: 1.01-1.07, p=0.012) but not with the presence of multiple carcinogenic types in the multivariable-adjusted models. Conclusions: As HIV-infected women continue to live longer on antiretroviral therapy in China, it will be increasingly important to screen for, and prevent, HPV-associated cervical cancer in this population, especially given the wide diversity and multiplicity of HPV genotypes

Fabrication and characterization of symmetric Au-nanostructures with SERS activity: (Student paper)

In this work, ordered symmetric Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) gold nanostructures were fabricated and characterized. The fabrication protocol is divided into (i) nano-wedges process and (ii) Au-shaping process. The SERS activity was analyzed by calculating the analytical enhancement factor (AEF) and interpreted by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation

Low-stress Si3N4 waveguides on sapphire substrate: (Student paper)

In this work, we present a new platform, Si3N4-on-sapphire, in which 1.35 μm thick Si3N4 layers can be deposited in a single low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) step with very low residual tensile stress