ABSTRACT
Objective@#To learn the knowledge, attitude and behaviors of AIDS of men who have sex wth men ( MSM ) in a gay bathhouse, so as to provide evidence for AIDS prevention and control among MSM.@*Methods@#From April to June of 2017, the MSM in a gay bathhouse in Wuhan were investigated. Demographic information, awareness of AIDS related knowledge, attitude towards HIV infection, dating ways and purposes, and high-risk sexual behaviors were collected and analyzed.@*Results@#Among 278 MSM responded, 235 ( 84.53% ) were aware of the basic knowledge of AIDS. The awareness rates of " transfusion with HIV blood will be infected ", " sharing syringes with HIV infected people will be infected ", "proper use of condoms can reduce the spread of AIDS ", " only having sex with one partner ( or few partners ) can reduce the spread of AIDS " were more than 90%, while the awareness rate of " high risk of HIV infection in gay bathhouses " was only 56.12%. Most respondents cared about the HIV infection situation of MSM, accounting for 74.46% ( 207 cases ) ; most denied or did not know the condition of friends infected with HIV, accounting for 82.37% ( 229 cases ) . The main purpose of coming to gay bathhouses was to find sexual partners, accounting for 87.41% ( 243 cases ) . About 52.16% had sexual behaviors with both heterosexual and homosexual partners, and 66.21% of them did not often or never use condoms when having sex with heterosexual partners. @*Conclusions@#The MSM in a gay bathouse have lower awareness of HIV infection situation and their partners, both heterosexual and homosexual behaviors, and lower proportion of insisting on condom use.
ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the prevalence of drinking-tea fluorosis from 2016 to 2018 in Lhasa City, Tibet, and to provide clues and basic data for preventing this disease.Methods:According to the stratified cluster sampling method, Mozhugongka County and Nimu County in 2016, Dazi District in 2017, Chengguan District, Duilongdeqing District and Qushui County of Lhasa City in 2018 were selected as survey counties (districts), each county (district) selected 1 township (town) according to the 5 directions of east, south, west, north, and middle, and each township (town) selected 1 to 2 administrative villages as survey points, and each survey point recruited villager volunteers aged ≥18 years for survey subject. All volunteers were tested for dental fluorosis (Dean method) and skeletal fluorosis (X-ray), and samples of drinking water, brick tea consumed at home and residents' urine were collected for water fluoride, tea fluoride, and urine fluoride testing.Results:A total of 30 water samples were collected, and the water fluoride content was all < 1.0 mg/L. The average fluorine content was 1 167.5 mg/kg among 314 samples of brick tea investigated in this study. The qualification rate of brick tea in each survey county was 0 - 16.7%. The daily intake of fluoride in brick tea per person was 6.4 mg. The prevalence of dental fluorosis was 18.1% (350/1 929) among all enrolled participants, 4 of the 6 survey counties (districts) had varying degrees of dental fluorosis. A total of 1 637 urine samples were collected and detected, and the urine fluorine level ranged from 0.01 to 11.01 mg/L, with a geometric mean of 1.07 mg/L. The urine fluorine levels in all investigated counties (districts) were under the standard limits (≤1.6 mg/L). Eight adults were diagnosed with skeletal fluorosis of degree Ⅰ via X-ray detection, with a detection rate of 0.4% (8/1 929). Totally 20.2% (390/1 929) of people reported suffered from two or more joint disease. Furthermore, 6 counties (districts) in Lhasa City were identified as mild drinking-tea type endemic fluorosis disease areas.Conclusion:From 2016 to 2018, the fluorine content of brick tea in Lhasa has exceeded the standard seriously, dental fluorosis is mildly prevalent in some counties (districts), and 6 counties (districts) are all mild tea-drinking fluorosis areas.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Acupuncture, a therapy of traditional Chinese medicine, is confirmed to exert the therapeutic action on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). However, the detailed therapeutic mechanisms of acupuncture in PCOS remain ambiguous. In this study, we further investigated whether electroacupuncture (EA) alleviated PCOS-like symptoms in rats via regulating a metabolic regulator, sterol regulatory element binding protein-1 (SREBP1). Methods: The PCOS-like rat model was built by hypodermic injection with dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). The rats were subjected to EA intervention (ST29 and SP6 acupuncture points) for 5 weeks. Primary granulosa cells were isolated from control and PCOS-like rats for evaluating insulin resistance, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in vitro. RESULTS: The expression of SREBP1 was increased in PCOS-like rats, which was suppressed by EA treatment. In addition, lentivirus-mediated overexpression of SREBP1 restrained EA treatment-induced improvement in pathological changes, serum hormone levels and insulin resistance in rats. In addition, overexpression of SREBP1 repressed insulin-stimulated phosphorylation of insulin receptor ß (IR) and AKT in primary granulosa cells. Moreover, upregulation of SREBP1 further exacerbated mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in granulosa cells isolated from PCOS-like rats. Mechanically, EA treatment suppressed SREBP1 expression through inducing the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway in PCOS-like rats. CONCLUSION: EA intervention alleviated PCOS-like symptoms in rats via improving IR, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress through regulating SREBP1, a lipid metabolism regulator. Our findings illuminate the novel protective mechanisms of EA in the treatment of PCOS.