BACKGROUND In 2004, the Ministry of Health issued the policy of decentralising microscopy services (MCs) to one third of all township hospitals in China. The study was conducted in Gansu Province, a poor western one in China. Ganzhou was one county in Gansu Province. Ganzhou County was identified as a unique case of further decentralisation of tuberculosis (TB) treatment services in township ho...

Risk maps for the geographical distribution of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) are needed for the direction of HIV prevention interventions. Our study, based on county-level data on the numbers of HIV/AIDS patients in the Yunnan province, People's Republic of China, applied trend surface analysis and spatial autocorrelation analysis to demon...

In the last three decades, high rates of resistance to common first-line antimicrobial agents have been reported in Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi (Typhi), the causative organism of typhoid fever (TF), in many regions of the world, especially in South East Asia. Analysis of Typhi strains isolated from outbreaks and sporadic cases of TF in Son La province, northwest Vietnam, in 2002 revealed...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the cancer incidence and mortality in 2012 in Guangdong province by analyzing the cancer data of selected population-based cancer registries in Guangdong province in 2012. METHODS Eight of nine population-based cancer registries submitted cancer data to the Guangdong Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangdong CDC), whose data met the data quality cri...

BACKGROUND The rubella vaccine was introduced into the immunization program in 1995 in the Shandong province, China. A series of different rubella vaccination strategies were implemented at different stages of measles control in Shandong province. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The average reported incidence rate of rubella cases remained at a low level in Shandong province after 1999. Howeve...

The Liangshan prefecture in Sichuan province is an area in China severely affected by the HIV epidemic, with intravenous drug use (IDU) as the main risk factor. No reports on HIV subtypes prevalent in IDUs in Liangshan prefecture could be found. In this study, we have characterized the genotypes of HIV-1 in the IDU population in Liangshan prefecture and further determined the phylogenetic relat...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have revealed significant differences between populations for genotypic frequencies of glutathione S-transferase T1 (GSTT1) and M1 (GSTM1) polymorphisms. In order to find the frequency of the null genotypes of GSTM1 and GSTT1 in Iranian populations, the present study was carried out. METHODS The total study subjects consisted of 1340 unrelated healthy Muslims/Irani...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the Safe Motherhood Programme of Midlands Province by means of process indicators, in particular Caesarean Section Rates (CSR), in comparison with the commonly used outcome indicator Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR). DESIGN A cross sectional descriptive study. SETTING Midlands Province, Zimbabwe. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Process indicators of the Safe Motherhood Programme...

A scientific definition of the type of mountain area and an exploration of the spatial correlation between different types of mountain areas and regional land use at the county level are important for reasonable land resource utilization and regional sustainable development. Here, a geographic information system was used to analyze digital elevation model data and to define the extent of mounta...

Maize is one of the major cultivated crops of China, having a central role in ensuring the food security of the country. There has been a significant increase in studies of maize under interactive effects of elevated CO2 concentration ([CO2]) and other factors, yet the interactive effects of elevated [CO2] and increasing precipitation on maize has remained unclear. In this study, a manipulative...