简介:AbstractWith the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the importance of vaccines in epidemic prevention and public health has become even more obvious than ever. However, the emergence of multiple severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants worldwide has raised concerns about the effectiveness of current COVID-19 vaccines. Here, we review the characteristics of COVID-19 vaccine candidates in five platforms and the latest clinical trial results of them. In addition, we further discuss future directions for the research and development of the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines. We also summarize the serious adverse events reported recently after the large-scale vaccination with the current COVID-19 vaccines, including the thromboembolism caused by the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
简介:AbstractImportance:Cleft lip and palate (CLP) is globally among the most common childhood malformations. This disorder impacts childhood development, including speech and language, and affects children worldwide.Objective:To analyze child development skills (adaptive fine motor, gross motor, personal-social, and language) in preschool children with isolated CLP compared with children without this malformation.Methods:The participants included an experimental group of 27 children with isolated CLP and a comparison group of 27 children without CLP aged between 48 and 59 months. The groups were evaluated using two instruments: the Denver Developmental Screening Test II (DDST-II) and the Avaliação do Desenvolvimento da Linguagem (ADL-Language Development Assessment). Data were analyzed by descriptive and inductive analyses, using the Student’s t-test and the Mann-Whitney test, at a significance level of P ˂ 0.05.Results:All children in the comparison group performed within normal standards for their age range in the DDST-II and the ADL. The worst performance in the experimental group was observed in language skills, followed, in declining order, by adaptive fine motor, personal-social, and gross motor as measured by the DDST-II. Children with isolated CLP also performed poorly in receptive, expressive, and global language in the ADL. No statistically significant differences were observed in the experimental group’s scores for the ADL and the DDST-II.Interpretation:Developmental skill levels were below expectations for children of this age with isolated CLP.
简介:AbstractFive million neurosurgical cases go untreated each year. This is in part due to the lack of neurosurgical care providers. The World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies has spearheaded efforts to monitor the number of neurosurgical providers around the globe since 2016. In this perspective, we discuss why, when, and how the neurosurgical workforce should be measured.
简介:AbstractBackground:Cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally, but its burden is not uniform. GLOBOCAN 2020 has newly updated the estimates of cancer burden. This study summarizes the most recent changing profiles of cancer burden worldwide and in China and compares the cancer data of China with those of other regions.Methods:We conducted a descriptive secondary analysis of the GLOBOCAN 2020 data. To depict the changing global profile of the leading cancer types in 2020 compared with 2018, we extracted the numbers of cases and deaths in 2018 from GLOBOCAN 2018. We also obtained cancer incidence and mortality from the 2015 National Cancer Registry Report in China when sorting the leading cancer types by new cases and deaths. For the leading cancer types according to sex in China, we summarized the estimated numbers of incidence and mortality, and calculated China’s percentage of the global new cases and deaths.Results:Breast cancer displaced lung cancer to become the most leading diagnosed cancer worldwide in 2020. Lung, liver, stomach, breast, and colon cancers were the top five leading causes of cancer-related death, among which liver cancer changed from the third-highest cancer mortality in 2018 to the second-highest in 2020. China accounted for 24% of newly diagnosed cases and 30% of the cancer-related deaths worldwide in 2020. Among the 185 countries included in the database, China’s age-standardized incidence rate (204.8 per 100,000) ranked 65th and the age-standardized mortality rate (129.4 per 100,000) ranked 13th. The two rates were above the global average. Lung cancer remained the most common cancer type and the leading cause of cancer death in China. However, breast cancer became the most frequent cancer type among women if the incidence was stratified by sex. Incidences of colorectal cancer and breast cancer increased rapidly. The leading causes of cancer death varied minimally in ranking from 2015 to 2020 in China. Gastrointestinal cancers, including stomach, colorectal, liver, and esophageal cancers, contributed to a massive burden of cancer for both sexes.Conclusions:The burden of breast cancer is increasing globally. China is undergoing cancer transition with an increasing burden of lung cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, and breast cancers. The mortality rate of cancer in China is high. Comprehensive strategies are urgently needed to target China’s changing profiles of the cancer burden.
简介:AbstractBackground:According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a global reduction of 17% has been achieved in the major noncommunicable disease-associated mortality rate since 2000. This decline was due to the decreasing mortality associated with cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases. The WHO has not made any comments on diabetes-related mortality thus far. The objective of this study was to demonstrate trends in diabetes-related mortality associated with country-wide interventions.Methods:The WHO statistics were used to assess trends in diabetes-related mortality from 2000 to 2016. Different types of community-based interventions in 49 countries were compared and assessed.Results:The baseline mortality decreased by 7%. Mortality in middle-income countries was higher than that in high-income countries. The prevalence of obesity showed a gradual increase in all countries. After implementation of the WHO "best buy" in 2010, mortality increased in 17 countries and decreased in 32 countries. Regarding the smoking prevalence trend, 87% countries with decreasing diabetes-related mortality had a gradual decline in tobacco usage since 2000. The decline was observed only in 43% countries with increasing diabetes-related mortality. The prevalence of hypertension increased in 19% countries with declining diabetes-related mortality and in 35% countries with increasing diabetes-related mortality. Physical activity measures tended to be better implemented in countries with declining diabetes-related mortality than in countries with increasing diabetes-related mortality.Conclusion:Smoking cessation and better blood pressure control are associated with declining diabetes-related mortality. Longer implementation periods are needed for other lifestyle interventions.
简介:AbstractBackground:The incubation period is a crucial index of epidemiology in understanding the spread of the emerging Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, we aimed to describe the incubation period of COVID-19 globally and in the mainland of China.Methods:The searched studies were published from December 1, 2019 to May 26, 2021 in CNKI, Wanfang, PubMed, and Embase databases. A random-effect model was used to pool the mean incubation period. Meta-regression was used to explore the sources of heterogeneity. Meanwhile, we collected 11 545 patients in the mainland of China outside Hubei from January 19, 2020 to September 21, 2020. The incubation period fitted with the Log-normal model by the coarseDataTools package.Results:A total of 3235 articles were searched, 53 of which were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled mean incubation period of COVID-19 was 6.0 days (95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.6-6.5) globally, 6.5 days (95% CI: 6.1-6.9) in the mainland of China, and 4.6 days (95% CI: 4.1-5.1) outside the mainland of China (P=0.006). The incubation period varied with age (P=0.005). Meanwhile, in 11 545 patients, the mean incubation period was 7.1 days (95% CI: 7.0-7.2), which was similar to the finding in our meta-analysis.Conclusions:For COVID-19, the mean incubation period was 6.0 days globally but near 7.0 days in the mainland of China, which will help identify the time of infection and make disease control decisions. Furthermore, attention should also be paid to the region- or age-specific incubation period.
简介:AbstractBackground:Despite almost two decades of well-funded and comprehensive response efforts by the Chinese Government, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) remains a major problem in China. Yet, few studies have recently examined long-term trends in HIV/AIDS prevalence, incidence, and mortality at the national level. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, incidence, and mortality trends for HIV/AIDS over the past 28 years in China.Methods:We conducted a descriptive, epidemiological, secondary analysis of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 data. To evaluate trends in prevalence, incidence, and mortality over the study period from 1990 to 2017, we calculated values for annual percentage change (APC) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using joinpoint regression analysis.Results:A significant increase in HIV/AIDS prevalence was observed for 1990 to 2009 (APC: 10.7; 95% CI: 10.4, 11.0; P < 0.001), and then remained stable for 2009 to 2017 (APC: 0.7; 95% CI: -0.3, 1.7; P = 0.1). A significant increase in HIV incidence was also observed for 1990 to 2005 (APC: 13.0; 95% CI: 12.6, 13.4; P < 0.001), and then a significant decrease was detected for 2005 to 2017 (APC: -6.5; 95% CI: -7.0, -6.1; P < 0.001). A significant increase in AIDS-related mortality rate was detected for 1990 to 2004 (APC: 10.3; 95% CI: 9.3, 11.3; P < 0.001), followed by a period of stability for 2004 to 2013 (APC: 1.3; 95% CI: -0.7, 3.3; P = 0.2), and then another significant increase for 2013 to 2017 (APC: 15.3; 95% CI: 8.7, 22.2; P < 0.001).Conclusions:Although prevalence has stabilized and incidence has declined, AIDS-related mortality has risen sharply in recent years. These findings suggest more must be done to bring people into treatment earlier, retain them in treatment more effectively, actively seek to reenter them in treatment if they dropout, and improve the quality of treatment and care regimens.