Mother‐to‐Child Transmission of HIV in China and the USA: A Comparative Analysis

This paper analyzes and compares the existing policies and programs for the prevention of mother‐to‐child transmission of HIV existing in China and in the USA. The implementation of these is still imperfect and there needs to be improvements in the education (the spreading of information) and in the general health care system of China. Particular attention will be drawn to the existing barriers to the effective implementation of prevention of mother‐to‐child‐transmission. The recommendations aim to solve similar barriers in both countries and some specifically dealing with problems in China. Since HIV infection in children is caused almost entirely by prenatal transmission, it is important that the governments, in partnership with civic society organizations, make all the necessary efforts to save the lives of their newborn citizens.     

Inverse association between total testosterone concentrations,incident hypertension and blood pressure

Background.?Studies on the relationship between testosterone concentrations and blood pressure have yielded inconsistent results. Therefore, this study investigated the prospective association of total testosterone (TT) concentrations with risk of incident hypertension and blood pressure change in 1484 men aged 20–79 years.

Methods.?Data from the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania, Germany, were used. Serum TT concentrations, measured by chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassays, were categorised into age-specific quartiles. Generalised Estimating Equation (GEE) models, adjusted for age, waist circumference, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption were specified.

Results.?During a median follow-up time of 5.0 years, the prevalence of hypertension increased from 50.6% to 57.1%. TT concentrations were significantly lower in men with baseline and incident hypertension. Analyses revealed that men with baseline TT concentrations in the lowest quartile had an increased risk of incident hypertension (odds ratio (OR), 1.19 (95% CI, 1.10–1.28)) compared to men with higher TT concentrations. Furthermore, we found a significant inverse association of TT concentrations and blood pressure, showing that men with baseline TT concentrations in the lowest quartile showed the slightest change in systolic blood pressure (?6.01?mmHg), diastolic blood pressure (?2.11?mmHg) and pulse pressure (?3.98?mmHg). Sensitivity analyses in a subpopulation of men without antihypertensive medication confirmed these findings.

Conclusion.?These results show that low male TT concentrations are predictive of hypertension, suggesting TT as a potential biomarker of increased cardiovascular risk.     

Testing Heterogeneity for Frailty Distribution in Shared Frailty Model

Abstract

The frailties, representing extra variations due to unobserved measurements, are often assumed to be iid in shared frailty models. In medical applications, however, a speculation can arise that a data set might violate the iid assumption. In this paper we investigate this conjecture through an analysis of the kidney infection data in McGilchrist and Aisbett (McGilchrist, C. A., Aisbett, C. W. (1991). Regression with frailty in survival analysis. Biometrics 47:461–466). As a test procedure, we consider the cusum of squares test which is frequently used for monitoring a variance change in statistical models. Our result strongly sustains the heterogeneity of the frailty distribution.     

语料库视野下的现代汉语“绿”字义项分布研究

文章以个案研究的形式，运用语料库技术和语言学中的词义感染理论，对“绿”字在现代汉语中义项的分布情况进行重新分析，认为《现代汉语词典》对“绿”字的解释存在漏收义项、漏收复字词条及其词义等问题。     

The Effect of Viewing a Landscape on Physiological Health of Elderly Women

Abstract

A quasi-experiment was undertaken to measure physiological characteristics of elderly women as they viewed different landscapes. Blood pressure and heart rate were monitored as elderly women living in a retirement centre viewed a natural landscape, a built landscape, and a control room with no view to the outside. Other characteristics of the individuals and the settings that have been shown to affect blood pressure and heart rate were controlled. The results indicated that, in all cases, viewing the natural landscape resulted in lower systolic and diastolic blood pressures and lower heart rates than those measured in the control room. Viewing the built landscape also had the general effect of lowering blood pressures and heart rates, but the effect was less consistent and the magnitude was smaller than that caused by the natural landscape. Lowering of blood pressure and heart rate have both been shown to be positively correlated with increased health and well-being, indicating the benefit of simply viewing a landscape. These results have important implications for design of housing for the elderly. Even if individuals are unable or unwilling to go outside, they can still benefit from seeing out into a landscape.     

What Lies Beneath: Trauma Events,PTSD, and Alcohol Misuse in Driving Under the Influence Program Clients

The prevention and reduction of alcohol misuse is one of the Grand Challenges of Social Work. Addressing client needs beyond alcohol misuse can improve client outcomes. Driving under the influence program clients (N = 1,248) were screened for trauma events and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Results found that males more often reported having been assaulted with a weapon or that they caused injury to someone else. Females more often reported sexual assault and other unwanted sexual experience. About 26% overall screened positive for PTSD. Social workers need to be alert to various types of trauma and help clients identify the connection between trauma and alcohol misuse.     

A Risk Assessment Scheme of Infection Transmission Indoors Incorporating the Impact of Resuspension

A new risk assessment scheme was developed to quantify the impact of resuspension to infection transmission indoors. Airborne and surface pathogenic particle concentration models including the effect of two major resuspension scenarios (airflow‐induced particle resuspension [AIPR] and walking‐induced particle resuspension [WIPR]) were derived based on two‐compartment mass balance models and validated against experimental data found in the literature. The inhalation exposure to pathogenic particles was estimated using the derived airborne concentration model, and subsequently incorporated into a dose‐response model to assess the infection risk. Using the proposed risk assessment scheme, the influences of resuspension towards indoor infection transmission were examined by two hypothetical case studies. In the case of AIPR, the infection risk increased from 0 to 0.54 during 0–0.5 hours and from 0.54 to 0.57 during 0.5–4 hours. In the case of WIPR, the infection risk increased from 0 to 0.87 during 0–0.5 hours and from 0.87 to 1 during 0.5–4 hours. Sensitivity analysis was conducted based on the design‐of‐experiments method and showed that the factors that are related to the inspiratory rate of viable pathogens and pathogen virulence have the most significant effect on the infection probability under the occurrence of AIPR and WIPR. The risk assessment scheme could serve as an effective tool for the risk assessment of infection transmission indoors.     

论血液制品致人损害侵权中产品责任的适用

文章系统地从法律的适用、归责原则、举证责任分配和免责事由等方面阐述了血液制品一般缺陷致人损害侵权中如何适用产品责任的问题。文中重点指出，此类侵权同时属于医疗行为侵权，因此在因果关系上应采用举证责任倒置；同时，根据举证责任的分配原则和《关于民事诉讼证据的若干规定》第7条，也兼具督促医院及时保留血液制品残液之目的，建议对血液制品存在缺陷实行举证责任倒置。     

无偿献血机制面临的伦理困境及对策建议——基于昆明市公众的调查研究

为了了解公众对无偿献血相关知识的认知程度及行为态度,识别无偿献血机制面临的伦理困境,为完善无偿献血机制提供对策建议.作者以问卷调查为主,个人访谈为辅,对昆明市250名公众进行调查.结果显示:公众对无偿献血相关知识及政策的认知程度较低,仅有29.11％的被调查者参加过无偿献血;无偿献血机制面临宣传导向不正确、自愿献血困难重重、血站运行机制不合理等方面的伦理困境.要想走出困境,应该加强对无偿献血相关知识及政策的宣传,提高公众的认知程度;坚持公益性原则,理顺血站运行机制,消除公众信任危机;杜绝非自愿性献血,充分保障公众的自主权;完善无偿献血激励机制及保障机制,切实维护献血者合法权益.     

The Emergency Dental Service at Southern Illinois University/Carbondale

Abstract

The Student Emergency Dental Service (SEDS), a program of Allied Health and Public Services, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC), began treating patients in January 1978. The purpose of the program is twofold. The main emphasis of SEDS is to treat patients with dental-related disorders of an emergency nature. The other purpose of SEDS is to help raise the level of dental knowledge among the student population so as to prevent the emergency situations from occurring.

The Student Emergency Dental Service is essentially an “emergency only” service, even though prevention is highlighted. Such an emergency service cannot compete with a comprehensive service in terms of providing total patient dental care. Hence, the SEDS program has some innate limitations a comprehensive service does not. It must work from certain guidelines. It cannot treat everyone, and the mode of treatment must be altered to aid the emergency patient. This creates dilemmas that will be addressed in this paper. The organization, accomplishments, and advantages and disadvantages of the SEDS program at Southern Illinois University are also discussed.