ObjectiveTo investigate the epidemic characteristics and direct economic burden of inpatients with acute respiratory infections (ARI) in Guangzhou from 2008 to 2014. MethodsA retrospective investigation of ARI inpatients was conducted in 8 large-scale general hospitals from 8 districts in Guangzhou. The basic information, diagnosis and treatment information, medical expenses, and other variables were collected by electronic information management systems of the hospitals. Stratified according to years, ages, and diseases, epidemic characteristics and hospitalization expenditure of ARI inpatients were analyzed. ResultsA total of 48 886 ARI inpatients were treated in the eight hospitals. The number of ARI inpatients increased from 5 561 in 2008 to 8 925 in 2014. Cases aged 4 years or younger accounted for the largest proportion of the total ARI inpatients (39.4%), followed by cases aged 65 years or older (28.3%). The top five diseases by cases were pneumonia, acute bronchitis, acute upper respiratory tract infection, bronchial pneumonia, and acute tonsillitis, accounting for 36.7%, 17.5%, 16.8%, 16.2%, and 5.0% of the total cases, respectively. The average medical expenses of the ARI inpatients increased from 2 568.20 Yuan in 2008 to 6 000.90 Yuan in 2014, with an average annual growth rate of 15.2%. Drug cost accounted for the largest proportion (38.4%) of the total expenses, followed by testing cost (20.6%). The cost of the ARI inpatients aged 65 years or older was the highest (10 625.50 Yuan). The medical expenses of pneumonia inpatients was the highest (7 074.70 Yuan) among different diseases.ConclusionThe number of ARI inpatients was rising in Guangzhou. Cases aged 4 years or younger and 65 years or older were the main groups with higher incidence of diseases. The drug cost and testing cost accounted for a higher proportion of the medical expenses. Pneumonia cases in the elderly plays an important role in the economic burden caused by ARI cases.

ObjectiveTo study the epidemiological characteristics and disease burden of injury death in Hepu County. MethodsThe surveillance data of death among residents in Hepu County from 2009 to 2014 were analyzed using indicators of mortality, standardized mortality rate (SMR), rank order of causes of death, PYLL, PYLLR, APYLL, WPYLL, VPYLL, APEL, and average life expectancy. ResultsA total of 2 617 cases of injury death were reported in Hepu County during 2009 to 2014, accounting for 8.19% of the total cases of death. The annual average SMR was 50.46 per 100 000. The SMR was higher in male (67.10/100 000 - 80.72/100 000) than in female (18.22/100 000-31.48/100 000). The top five leading causes of death were traffic accidents, drowning, suicides, accidental fall, and poisoning. PYLL of injury death was 12 816.92 person-years, PYLLR was 14.19‰, APYLL was 29.40 person-years, WPYLL was 7 092.50 person-years, VPYLL was 9 869.83 person-years, and APEL was 78.84 ten thousand Yuan. The burden of disease was higher in male than in female and higher in the 15-44 year age group than in other age groups. ConclusionInjury was the leading cause of death in Hepu County with high disease burden, seriously affecting the life expectancy of residents.

ObjectiveTo analyze the prevelant trend in incidence of breast cancer in Guangzhou during 2004-2011.MethodsThe incidence rates of breast cancer were calculated by analyzing data obtained from Guangzhou Cancer Registration Center. Standardized rates were calculated using the Segi's world standard population. Jointpoint Regression Program (4.2.0.2) was used to calculate the annual percentage change (APC). ResultsA total of 14 279 new cases of breast cancer were registered in Guangzhou City from 2004 to 2011. The crude incidence of breast cancer increased from 46.29/100 000 population in 2004 to 51.49/100 000 in 2011, increasing by 11.23%, and the APC was 1.62% (95％CI: 0.30％-2.90％). Two peaks in the incidence of breast cancer were observed, the first peak in the 50-64 year age group and the second in the 70-74 year age group, and the peak before menopause was obviously higher than that after menopause. APCs were 2.99％ (95％CI:0.01％-6.01％) in the age group 55-59 years and 4.36％ (95％CI:2.15％-6.53％) in the age group 75-79 years. ConclusionThe incidence of breast cancer in Guangzhou increased at a faster rate. The prevention and control of breast cancer should be strengthened.

ObjectiveTo investigate the sleep quality and related factors among the rural elderly people in Chizhou. MethodsA random sampling method was used to select rural elderly people aged 60 and above from six administrative villages in Chizhou City for questionnaire survey. The survey contents included basic information, the Short form 36-item questionnaire (SF-36) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Descriptive epidemiological method was used to analyze the sleep status of the subjects. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to analyze factors influencing the sleep quality.ResultsA total of 925 rural elderly participated in the survey, of whom 60.5% were female, 56.4% aged 60-69 years, 90.9% had primary school education level or below, and 73.0% had alive spouses. The PSQI total score for sleep quality of the subjects was (8.02±3.54), and 463 subjects had sleep disorders, with an incidence rate of 50.05%. In the multivariate logistic regression model, the subjects who were female (OR=1.281), aged at 70-79 years (OR=1.648) as well as 80 years and over (OR=2.721), without alive spouse (OR=1.775), and with chronic diseases (OR=2.615) were more likely to have sleep disorders. The average scores of factors of the quality of life were correlated with PSQI scores (allP<0.05).ConclusionThe incidence of sleep disorders was high in rural elderly and the sleep disorders were associated with gender, age, spouse alive or not, and chronic diseases.

ObjectiveTo understand the hereditary character and evolutionary relationship of Brucella melitensis.MethodsThe multilocus sequence typing (MLST) assay was used to sequence 60 strains ofB. melitensis from Guangdong Province. Seven house keeping genes, 1 outer membrane gene, and 1 intergenic region of the 60 strains were sequenced and compared with alleles of standard strains to determine the sequence type. All the strains were analyzed through PCR detection, sequence and sequence analysis.ResultsThe sequences of all the 60 strains weregap（3）, aroA（2）, glk（3）, dnaK(2）, gyrB（1）, trpE（5）, cobQ（3）, omp25（8）, andInt-hyp（2）, consistent with the various alleles of sequences type ST8 reported in the literature. The similarity among the 60 local strains and 16 standard ones ranged from 2.5% to 100.0%. The strains with 100.0% similarity were divided into 12 ST types, of which the 60 local strains were ST8 type, same asB. melitensis 2 standard strain. ConclusionB. melitensis ST8 is dominant in Guangdong. MLST is only a supplementary method but cannot be used to differentiateB. melitensis in Guangdong Province.

ObjectiveTo study the characteristics and changing trend in respiratory function of primary and secondary students in Guangdong Province.MethodsUsing the data of six rounds of student physical health surveys in Guangdong Province from 1991 to 2014, characteristics and changing trend of pulmonary function of students aged 7-18 years were evaluated based on the vital capacity (VC) and ratio of VC/body weight (VC/BW).ResultsDuring the 24 years, the average VC decreased by 350 mL for male students and 400 mL for female ones in all age groups, whereas decreased by 481 mL for male students and 568 mL for female students in 18-year age group, respectively. The average ratios of VC/BW decreased by 16.3 mL/kg for males and 15.5 mL/kg for females in all age groups, whereas decreased by 12.7mL/kg for males and 12.5mL/kg for females aged 18 years, respectively. The VC reduction values of urban male students in all age groups were greater than those of rural male students (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The VC reduction values of urban female students in most age groups were larger than those of rural female students (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The rural-urban differences of VC reduction value were averagely 35 mL/10 years for male students and 20 mL/10 years for female ones, respectively.ConclusionThe respiratory function of primary and secondary students in Guangdong Province decreased overall and continuously. Physical exercise should be adopted as an intervention measure to promote physical health status of the students.

ObjectiveTo study the chronic non-cancer health risk and cancer risk from formaldehyde in indoor air of public places.MethodsFrom 2014 to 2015, formaldehyde in indoor air was monitored in public places (hotels, malls, dance halls, beauty salons, cinemas, hospital and station waiting rooms) in Longgang District, Shenzhen City and its health risks to employees were assessed using approaches to chronic non-cancer risk and cancer risk assessments of EPA.ResultsA total of 185 public places were monitored, including 53 rooms of the hotels, 46 shopping malls, 43 dance halls, 15 beauty salons, 10 cinemas, 13 hospital waiting rooms, and 5 station waiting rooms. The average concentrations of formaldehyde in air of cinemas, hospital waiting rooms, hotels, dance halls, shopping malls, beauty salons, and station waiting rooms were 0.08, 0.03, 0.06, 0.07, 0.06, 0.05, and 0.05 mg/m3, respectively. Risk assessment results showed that the chronic non-cancer risk of formaldehyde to the employees existed in air of all public places (HQ>1), except the hospital waiting rooms; the cancer risk of formaldehyde to the employees existed in all public place (>1×10-6), where the highest one was in the cinemas (1.02×10-4).ConclusionThe chronic non-cancer risk and cancer risk of formaldehyde in the indoor air of public places to the employees were high in Longgang district, Shenzhen City.

ObjectiveAn ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was established for determination of α-solanine and α-chaconinee in food poisoning samples including potatoes, processed food, vomit, serum, and urine. MethodsThe samples were extracted with 5% acetic acid by ultrasonic instrument. For potato sample, the supernatant was diluted with acetonitrile and detected by UPLC-MS/MS. For samples of processed food, vomit, serum, and urine, the supernatants were cleaned-up by solid-phase extraction with a mixed mode cation exchange, and eluted with acetonitrile (containing 5% ammonia water). Then the purified solution was concentrated by nitrogen, dissolved with acetonitrile-water (90+10, v/v) and cleaned by 0.22 μm millipore filter. The sample extract was separated on a Waters UPLC BEH Amide column by gradient elution in 10 minutes with acetronitrile-water (containing 2 mmol/L ammonium acetate) as mobile phase. The filtrate was detected by UPLC-MS/MS, identified by electrospray ionization in positive mode using multiple reaction monitoring, and quantified with external standards. ResultsThe calibration curves of α-solanine and α-chaconinee in several poisoning samples showed good linearity in the range of 1.0-200.0 μg/L with correlation coefficient in the range of 0.998 8-0.999 7. The detection limit of the method were 0.60 μg/kg (α-solanine) and 0.21 μg/kg (α-chaconinee) for potato, 0.08 μg/L (α-solanine) and 0.04 μg/L(α-chaconinee) for serum and urine. The recoveries of three spiking levels ranged from 82.6% to 105.5%, andRSDs of 1.93% -5.11% were obtained. ConclusionThis method is simple, rapid, and accurate for the determination of residues of α-solanine and α-chaconinee in poisoning samples and can be used for emergency detection of solanine poisoning.