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

Rotation-driven prolate-to-oblate shape phase transition in W-190: A projected shell model study

A shape phase transition is demonstrated to occur in W-190 by applying the projected shell model, which goes beyond the usual mean-field approximation. Rotation alignment of neutrons in the high-j, i(13/2) orbital drives the yrast sequence of the system, changing suddenly from prolate to oblate shape at angular momentum 10h. We propose observables to test the picture

Long chain alkenones preserved in Miocene lake sediments

Over the last few decades, the occurrence of long chain alkenones (LCAs) in Quaternary lacustrine settings has been reported, the distributions being remarkably different from those of open ocean settings. We report here the occurrence of LCAs with modern lake-type composition from Middle Miocene sedimentary strata in the Dahonggou Section, Qaidam Basin, northern Tibetan Plateau. This is the first report of LCAs with preserved lake compositions in pre-Quaternary lacustrine sediments. The discovery implies that the producers of modern lacustrine LCAs could originate from similar lake species living at least as far back as the Miocene epoch. It also sheds new light on the potential of &ldquo;alkenones&rdquo; as palaeotemperature indicators in lacustrine systems back to at least 10.5 Ma.</p

Antikaon condensation and in-medium kaon and antikaon production in protoneutron stars

Antikaon condensation and kaon and antikaon production in protoneutron stars are investigated in a chiral hadronic model (also referred to as the FST model in this paper). The effects of neutrino trapping on protoneutron stars are analyzed systematically. It is shown that neutrino trapping makes the critical density of K- condensation delay to higher density and (K) over bar (0) condensation not occur. The equation of state (EOS) of (proto)neutron star matter with neutrino trapping is stiffer than that without neutrino trapping, As a result, the maximum masses of (proto)neutron stars with neutrino trapping are larger than those without neutrino trapping. If hyperons are taken into account, antikaon does not form a condensate in (Proto)neutron stars. Meanwhile, the corresponding EOS becomes much softer, and the maximum masses of (proto)neutron stars are smaller than those without hyprons. Finally, our results illustrate that the Q values for K+ and K- production in (proto)neutron stars are not sensitive to neutrino trapping and inclusion of hyperons

Deconfinement phase Transition including perturbative QCD corrections in (proto)neutron star matter

Deconfinement phase transition and neutrino trapping in (proto)neutron star matter are investigated in a chiral hadronic model (also referred to as the FST model) for the hadronic phase (HP) and in the color-flavor-locked (CFL) quark model for the deconfined quark phase. We include a perturbative QCD correction parameter alpha(s) in the CFL quark matter equation of states. It is shown that the CFL quark core with K-0 condensation forms in neutron star matter with the large value of alpha(s). If the small value of alpha(s) is taken, hyperons suppress the CFL quark phase and the HP is dominant in the high-density region of (proto)neutron star matter. Neutrino trapping makes the fraction of the CFL quark matter decrease compared with those without neutrino trapping. Moreover, increasing the QCD correction parameter alpha(s) or decreasing the bag constant B and the strange quark mass m(s) can make the fraction of the CFL quark matter increase, simultaneously, the fraction of neutrino in protoneutron star matter increases, too. The maximum masses and the corresponding radii of (proto)neutron stars are not sensitive to the QCD correction parameter alpha(s).Th e p r o j e c t s u p p o r t e d b y Na t i o n a l Na t u r a l S c i e n c e F o u n d a t i o n o f Ch i n a u n d e r Gr a n t No s ． 1 0 5 7 5 0 0 5 ， 1 0 4 3 5 0 8 0 ，1 0 4 2 5 5 2 1 ， 1 0 1 3 5 0 3 0 ， a n d 1 0 5 7 5 1 2 3 ， t h e Ke y Gr a n t Pr o j e c t o f t h e Mi n i s t r y o f Ed u c a t i o n u n d e r Gr a n t No ． 3 0 5 0 0 1 ， a nd t h e CAS Kn o wl e d g e I n n o v a t i o n P r o j e c t u nd e r Gr an t No．KJ c x2 一 s w- N0

Observation of Three-Quasiparticle Doublet Bands in I-123: Possible Evidence of Chirality

A new band in the odd proton nucleus I-123 is identified via in- beam gamma- ray spectroscopy using the N-14+Cd-116 reaction. This band shows up as doublets with the previously assigned pi g(7/2) circle times (nu h(11/2))(2) band. Possible configurations of the new band are discussed in the framework of the cranked shell model and the geometrical model. It is argued that the new band might be a chiral partner of the previously known pi g(7/2) circle times (nu h(11/2))(2) band