Short-Term Impacts of Meteorology, Air Pollution, and Internet Search Data on Viral Diarrhea Infection among Children in Jilin Province, China.

The influence of natural environmental factors and social factors on children's viral diarrhea remains inconclusive. This study aimed to evaluate the short-term effects of temperature, precipitation, air quality, and social attention on children's viral diarrhea in temperate regions of China by using the distribution lag nonlinear model (DLNM). We found that low temperature affected the increase in children's viral diarrhea infection for about 1 week, while high temperature and heavy precipitation affected the increase in children's viral diarrhea infection risk for at least 3 weeks. As the increase of the air pollution index may change the daily life of the public, the infection of children's viral diarrhea can be restrained within 10 days, but the risk of infection will increase after 2 weeks. The extreme network search may reflect the local outbreak of viral diarrhea, which will significantly improve the infection risk. The above factors can help the departments of epidemic prevention and control create early warnings of high-risk outbreaks in time and assist the public to deal with the outbreak of children's viral diarrhea.

Long-term effects of methadone maintenance treatment with different psychosocial intervention models.

This study evaluated the long-term effects of different psychosocial intervention models in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in Xi'an China. Patients from five MMT clinics were divided into three groups receiving MMT only, MMT with counseling psychology (CP) or MMT with contingency management (CM). A five-year follow-up was carried out with daily records of medication, monthly random urine morphine tests, and tests for anti-HIV and anti-HCV every six months. Drug use behavior was recorded six months after initial recruitment using a survey. Adjusted RRs and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using an unconditional logistic regression model or a Cox proportional hazard model. A total of 2662 patients were recruited with 797 in MMT, 985 in MMT with CP, and 880 in MMT with CM. Following six months of treatment, the injection rates of MMT with CP and MMT with CM groups were significantly lower than that of MMT (5.1% and 6.9% vs. 16.3%, x²  =  47.093 and 29.908, respectively; P<0.05). HIV incidences for MMT, MMT with CP and MMT with CM at the five year follow-up were 20.09, 0.00 and 10.02 per ten thousand person-years, respectively. HCV incidences were 18.35, 4.42 and 6.61 per hundred person-years, respectively, demonstrating that CP and CM were protective factors for HCV incidence (RR  =  0.209 and 0.414, with range of 0.146-0.300 and 0.298-0.574, respectively). MMT supplemented with CP or CM can reduce heroin use and related risk behaviors, thereby reducing the incidence of HIV and HCV.

Assessment of the risk of infectious aerosols leaking to the environment from BSL-3 laboratory HEPA air filtration systems using model bacterial aerosols.

To assess the risk of infectious bacterial aerosols leaking to the environment, the filtration efficiency of a biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory high-efficiency particulate (HEPA) filter was investigated using the aerosolized bacteria Serratia marcescens. The aerosol size was measured using an Andersen sampler. Eight first stage HEPA filters (numbered 1-8) were distributed in contaminated labs and exhausts from each of the first stage HEPA filters were aggregated and filtered through one second stage HEPA filter before being released to the environment. In total, 8 first-stage and 1 second-stage HEPA filters from the BSL-3 air purification system were analyzed. No S. marcescens was detected in first stage filters 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 and the second stage HEPA filter. The filtration efficiencies against aerosolized S. marcescens were >99.9999%. First stage filter numbers 3 and 6 had filtration efficiencies of 99.9825% and 99.9906%, respectively. When filter number 3 was replaced by a new filter and the bracket for filter number 6 was sealed, no aerosolized S. marcescens was detected in the filtered air. Our work suggests that the BSL-3 laboratory HEPA filter air purification system is effective against bacterial aerosols, with little to no bacterial leakage into the environment.

A study of 6-year retention in methadone maintenance treatment among opioid-dependent patients in Xi'an.

OBJECTIVE: We analyzed a 6-year methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) retention rate in 8 MMT clinics in Xi'an and the factors that influenced the retention rate. METHODS: We conducted a 6-year retrospective dynamic cohort study of 5849 eligible patients from 2006 to 2011. Participants were serially enrolled on the basis of opioid addiction, age, residence status, and civil capacity. Cumulative retention in treatment was calculated using survival analyses (life tables) on the basis of the number of days in MMT. We also used the Cox proportional hazard regression model to analyze the factors that may influence treatment retention. RESULTS: The MMT retention varied from a less than 1 month to a maximum of 71.2 months; the average dose was 48.76 ± 17.03 mg/d. The cumulative retention for 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 months after MMT initiation were 0.87, 0.76, 0.66, 0.57, 0.49, and 0.43, respectively. The MMT retention rate was significantly associated with factors that included the particular clinic for MMT, the year when the subject initiated MMT, average daily dose, hidden drug use, sex, age, length of drug abuse history, needle sharing, living arrangements, and employment status. CONCLUSIONS: The 6-year retention rates for MMT in the 8 clinics in Xi'an were higher than those reported in other studies of other clinics. High therapeutic doses (>60 mg/d) could reduce the risk of patients withdrawing from treatment. Retention rates were relatively high in cohorts who were elderly, living with family, employed, or drug users, especially those with a long history of drug abuse.

Assessment the protection performance of different level personal respiratory protection masks against viral aerosol.

New viral disease such as SARS and H1N1 highlighted the vulnerability of healthcare workers to aerosol-transmitted viral infections. This paper was to assess the protection performance of different level personal respiratory protection equipments against viral aerosol. Surgical masks, N95 masks and N99 masks were purchased from the market. The masks were sealed onto the manikin in the aerosol testing chamber. Viral aerosol was generated and then sampled simultaneously before and after the tested mask using biosamplers. This allows a percentage efficiency value to be calculated against test phage SM702 aerosols which surrogates of viral pathogens aerosol. At the same time, the masks face fit factor was determined by TSI8020. The viral aerosol particles aerodynamic diameter was 0.744 µm, and GSD was 1.29. The protection performance of the material of all the tested masks against viral aerosol was all >95 %. All the five surgical masks face fit factor were <8. F model N95 mask and H model N99 mask face fit factor were all >160. G model N95 mask face fit factor was 8.2. The protection performances of N95 or N99 masks were many times higher than surgical mask when considering the face fit factor. Surgical masks cannot offer sufficient protection against the inhalation of viral aerosol because they cannot provide a close face seal.