Mobility Trends and Effects on the COVID-19 Epidemic - Hong Kong, China.

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS TOPIC?: Several outbreaks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Hong Kong in 2020, and the response had varied results based on the strength of policy measures and on compliance of the population. WHAT IS ADDED BY THIS REPORT?: By analyzing data of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong, combined with the Google Mobility Trends and Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, we make recommendations for the future prevention and control of the epidemic in Hong Kong. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE?: Monitoring data reflecting multiple aspects, such as the epidemic situation, the mobility behavior of people, and government policy, is helpful for public health practitioners and policymakers to understand the interaction between various factors and to precisely adjust COVID-19 control policies.

[Current status of nutrition work in Chinese disease control institutions].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the basic nutrition working status in Chinese CDCs. METHODS: The questionnaire of nutritional working ability of CDC was designed for investigation. The questionnaire was filled in by all disease control institutions of 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps(excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). Data was inputted by each institution through a questionn aire-survey platform called 'wenjuanxing& apos; , and the quality control was carried out by the provincial CDCs according to their jurisdiction. RESULTS: A total of 3150 valid questionnaires were collected. 35.97% of the institutions surveyed had never undertaken nutrition-related work, and only 4.19% of them had set up an independent department for nutrition-related work. The average number of people engaged in nutrition work was 2.5(P50=1.0); The average number of full-time staff was 0.2(P50=0.0). The average number of full-time staff in provincial, municipal and county CDCs was 3.6, 0.4 and 0.2, respectively. In terms of the nutrition work, by 2020 the China Nutrition and Health Surveillance and the National Food Nutrition Surveillance have covered 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Besides Shanghai, Zhejiang and Fujian, provincial CDCs implemented the Nutrition Improvemeat Program for Compulsory Education Students in Rural Area. As to the scientific research, only 9.08% of the institutions have carried out nutrition-related projects in the past five years. Particularly, there were little nutrition-related scientific research funds for municipal and county disease control institutions, while 96.57% of the institutions do not have special funds for nutrition work. From 2015 to 2019, the proportion of the institutions that published nutrition-related papers, published nutrition-related books, won nutrition-related awards, and participated in the formulation of nutrition-related standards was 3.81%, 1.27%, 5.65% and 0.70%, respectively. With regard to the implementation of the six major actions of the National Nutrition Plan(2017-2030), only 29.81% of CDCs have organized and carried out related actions. CONCLUSION: Disease control institutions are short of nutrition professional posts, professional personnel, nutrition work funds and scientific research investment, lack of regular nutrition work tasks. Therefore, the nutrition capacity of the CDCs needs to be strengthened, and more efforts will be needed to meet the requirements of the National Nutrition Plan(2017-2030) and the Healthy China Action(2019-2030)-Healthy Diet Campaign.

Spatiotemporal visualization for the global COVID-19 surveillance by balloon chart.

BACKGROUND: Considering the widespread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the world, it is important to understand the spatiotemporal development of the pandemic. In this study, we aimed to visualize time-associated alterations of COVID-19 in the context of continents and countries. METHODS: Using COVID-19 case and death data from February to December 2020 offered by Johns Hopkins University, we generated time-associated balloon charts with multiple epidemiological indicators including crude case fatality rate (CFR), morbidity, mortality and the total number of cases, to compare the progression of the pandemic within a specific period across regions and countries, integrating seven related dimensions together. The area chart is used to supplement the display of the balloon chart in daily new COVID-19 case changes in UN geographic regions over time. Javascript and Vega-Lite were chosen for programming and mapping COVID-19 data in browsers for visualization. RESULTS: From February 1st to December 20th 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic spread across UN subregions in the chronological order. It was first reported in East Asia, and then became noticeable in Europe (South, West and North), North America, East Europe and West Asia, Central and South America, Southern Africa, Caribbean, South Asia, North Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania, causing several waves of epidemics in different regions. Since October, the balloons of Europe, North America and West Asia have been rising rapidly, reaching a dramatically high morbidity level ranging from 200 to 500/10 000 by December, suggesting an emerging winter wave of COVID-19 which was much bigger than the previous ones. By late December 2020, some European and American countries displayed a leading mortality as high as or over 100/100 000, represented by Belgium, Czechia, Spain, France, Italy, UK, Hungary, Bulgaria, Peru, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The mortality of Iran was the highest in Asia (over 60/100 000), and that of South Africa topped in Africa (40/100 000). In the last 15 days, the CFRs of most countries were at low levels of less than 5%, while Mexico had exceptional high CFR close to 10%. CONCLUSIONS: We creatively used visualization integrating 7-dimensional epidemiologic and spatiotemporal indicators to assess the progression of COVID-19 pandemic in terms of transmissibility and severity. Such methodology allows public health workers and policy makers to understand the epidemics comparatively and flexibly.

[Nutritional status of vitamin B_(12) and its influence factors in Chinese lactating women in 2013].

OBJECTIVE: To examine the vitamin B_(12) status of lactating women in China and to analyze the factors affecting the level of serum vitamin B_(12) in these subjects. METHODS: Participants were from the Chinese National Nutrition and Health Surveillance in 2013. By multi-stage stratified cluster randomly sampling method, 10 331 lactating women were selected from 55 counties of 30 provinces in China. Questionnaire was conducted to collect the basic information of lactating women and the dietary intake of them in the past one month was collected by food frequency questionnaire. A total of 20% of the total number of lactating women(a total of 1976) were randomly selected to analyze serum vitamin B_(12) by electro-chemiluminescence immunoassay method. Serum vitamin B_(12) deficiency was defined as a serum vitamin B_(12) level<200 pg/mL. The distribution of serum vitamin B_(12 )was lognormal, a generalized linear model was used to analyze the factors affecting the serum vitamin B_(12) level after logarithm transformation of it. RESULTS: The median of serum vitamin B_(12)(P25, P75) in lactating women was 469. 0(349. 0, 633. 5)pg/mL, the prevalence of vitaminB_(12) deficiency was 2. 7%(53/1976)and marginal deficiency rate was 12. 8%. With the increase of the education level of the lactating women the rate of vitamin B_(12) deficiency decreased gradually. The rate of vitamin B_(12 )deficiency of the lactating women presented regional differences and varied significantly among different regionals, education levels and the mothers who were breastfeeding or not. The value of serum vitamin B_(12 )was analyzed by generalized linear regression model showed that the levels of serum vitamin B_(12) in general rural counties and medium-sized or small cities were 1. 07 and 1. 13 times higher than those in poor rural areas, respectively. The serum vitamin B_(12) level of non-lactating women was 1. 08 times higher than that of lactating women. The serum vitamin B_(12 )level of the lactating women with junior high school level or below was significantly lower than that of the lactating women with college education and university education level, 88. 3% and 85. 0% of the lactating women with college education and university education, respectively. Serum vitamin B_(12) levels were positively correlated with intake of livestock meat, fish and seafood. CONCLUSION: The status of vitamin B_(12) in lactating women in China is good. Our findings suggest that some regionals, education levels, breastfeeding or not and livestock meat, fish meat and seafood supplement may be associated with serum vitamin B_(12 )in lactating women.

[Level of body fat percentage among adults aged 18-65 years old in 15 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) of China in 2015 and its relationship with body mass index].

OBJECTIVE: To describe the regional and population-related differences in body fat percentage(BF%) and fat quality among 18-65 years old adults in 15 provinces(autonomous regions and municipalities) of China in 2015, and analyze the relationship between body fat percentage and body mass index(BMI). METHODS: A total of 10 561 adults aged 18-65 years old who have complete physical measurements and relevant demographic economic data from the 2015 China Nutritional Transition Cohort Study were included. Body fat percentage and weight were measured using the bioelectrical impedance analysis. Body fat percentage and fat quality of different genders were described among different age groups, education levels, incomes, regions, urban and rural areas. And the obesity prevalence defined by body fat percentage(recommended by WHO) was described. RESULTS: In 2015, the body fat percentage and fat quality of adult women aged 18-65 in 15 provinces(autonomous regions and municipalities)were 33. 6% and 19. 5 kg, respectively, and adult males were 23. 0% and 15. 7 kg. Body fat percentage and fat quality were higher in the North than in the South(P<0. 0001). There were statistical differences in body fat percentage and fat quality among men of different ages, educational levels, incomes, regions and urban and rural populations(P<0. 0001). There were differences in body fat percentage and fat quality among women of different ages, educational levels, regions(P<0. 0001), and no differences in incomes and urban and rural areas. According to the body fat percentage(recommended by WHO), the prevalence of obesity of women was 42. 0% increasing by age, and the prevalence of obesity of women aged 60-65 was as high as 52. 4%. The prevalence of obesity of men was 37. 1%, which increased with age, but decreased in the 60-65 age group. The prevalence of obesity of males and females in northern regions was 41. 9% and 45. 6%, respectively, which was significantly higher than in the southern regions(34. 3% and 39. 9%). BMI was closely related to BF%, but in overweight people, more than 50% of people defined by body fat percentages reached obesity. CONCLUSION: In 2015, there were significant regional and population differences in body fat percentage and fat quality among adults of different genders in 15 provinces(autonomous regions and municipalities), and the prevalence of obesity in the North was significantly higher than that in the South.

A survey of clinical and laboratory characteristics of dengue fever epidemic from 2014 to 2018 in Guangzhou, China.

BACKGROUND: In 2014, a serious dengue outbreak occurred in Guangzhou, South China. In this study, the clinical and laboratory characteristics of dengue fever (DF) group and other febrile illnesses (OFI) group in Guangzhou were described. METHODS: Clinical and laboratory data collected by studying 1,792 patients from Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University during 2014 and 2018. Laboratory data was analyzed by SPSS 22.0 statistical software including Full blood counts (SYSMEX XE-5000), Laboratory Biochemical tests (Roche Cobas 8000), Dengue virus RNA (RT-PCR-Fluorescence Probing) and Dengue IgG/IgM Antibody (Colloidal Gold), Dengue Virus NS1 (ELISA). RESULTS: In the DF group and OFI group, gender ratios were 1.08:1 (male/female, P>0.05) and 1.45:1 (male/female, P<0.05). Adults aged 25-34 years old (29.4%) with the main peak appeared in the DF group, and the same main peak appeared in the OFI group: 25-34 years old (25.13%). Patients were from Medical emergency (41.2% DF group, 29.4% OFI group). The distribution of fever days before treatment was mainly focused within 5 days, with a main peak in the 2 fever days before treatment (24.6%) in the DF group and the main peak in 1 fever day before treatment (46.9%) in OFI group. The major symptoms of the DF group were presented with were fever (100%), myalgia (34.77%), pharyngeal hyperemia (31.33%), headache (25.65%), adenoids (19.62%), and rash (13.25%). In the OFI group, Pharyngeal hyperemia was the most common clinical symptom, accounting for 27.24%, and the next symptom was adenoids (21.26%). The sensitivity and specificity of DV RNA were 61.54%, 100%, respectively, compared to the DF Nonstructural protein 1 (NS1). Dengue virus (DENV) Immunoglobulin M (IgM) IgM in both groups was statistically significant, with DENV-IgM in the DF group were stronger (Z=-7.863, P<0.001), and DENV immunoglobulin G (IgG) were no statistically significant (Z=-1.212, P=0.226). In DF group, 37.14% of serum samples had elevated Alanine transaminase (ALT) levels, 76.85% of them had elevated aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels, 32.08% of them had elevated creatine kinase (CK) levels, and 2.67% of them had elevated C-reaction protein (CRP) levels, compared with 13.51% of them had elevated ALT levels, 30.65% of them had elevated AST levels, 6.06% of them had elevated CK levels and 69.35% of them had elevated CRP levels of the OFI patients. The prominent manifestations were thrombocytopenia (occurring in 28.07% of the DF group, compared to 5.18% of OFI group) and leucopenia (occurring in 43.27% of DF group and 3.63% of OFI group). The DF incidence of all fever cases was 49.0% within three months in 2014, compared with 1.4% in 2015, 0% in 2016, 0.9% in 2017 and 6.4% in 2018 (P<0.001). DF and OFI can occur in any age and sex. DF occurred in the young and the old, OFI occurred in children and youth. The clinical symptoms of myalgia, headache, rash, weak, Chills, follicular hyperplasia in both groups were statistically significant (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: IgM can be easily recognized for early diagnoses, DENV-RNA had lower sensitivity and higher specificity, and DF NS1 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has a higher sensitive and specificity. DF is a serious public health problem and an emerging continuous threat in Guangzhou. In high-prevalence areas, effective epidemic monitoring and prevention measures need to be undertaken. After the unprecedented outbreak in 2014, on account of the government and citizen paying more attention to the DF epidemic, the cases of DF were decreased significantly from 2015 to 2018.

Haem oxygenase-1 expression and coronary heart disease--association between levels of haem oxygenase-1 expression and angiographic morphology as well as the quantity of coronary lesions.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper was to investigate the association between levels of HO-1 expression and angiographic morphology as well as the quantity of coronary lesions in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). METHODS: 110 patients with CHD were diagnosed by coronary angiography which contained coronary lesions in some way. Firstly, the patients were divided into 3 groups according to the angiographic morphology of their coronary lesions: type I (smooth borders) group (n1= 36), type II (irregular borders) group (n2= 48) and type III (long and irregular lesions) group (n3= 26). Secondly, the patients were split into a further 3 groups, named: single-vessel group (SV, 38 cases), double-vessel group (DV, 44 cases) and multi-vessel group (MV, 28 cases) according to the number of coronary lesions. Another 30 patients with normal coronary arteries (diagnosed by coronary angiography) were selected as the control group. The levels of HO-1 protein expression in monocytes and lymphocytes from the subjects were tested by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. A computer picture analysing system was also used to measure the levels of HO-1 protein expression. RESULTS: HO-1 protein was located in cell plasma and the levels of HO-1 protein expression in patients with CHD were significantly higher than in those without CHD (p < 0.01). There were significant differences of HO-1 expression among patients with CHD. Patients with type III lesions had the highest levels, followed by those with type II lesions and the lowest levels were found in patients with type I lesions (p < 0.01). Also, levels of HO-1 protein expression in patients with multi-vessel disease and double-vessel disease were significantly higher than in those with single-vessel disease (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: There is a higher expression of HO-1 in patients with CHD and the levels of HO-1 protein are associated with severity of CHD angiographically.