The quality of life and its influencing factors among assembly line workers in manufacturers of Zhongshan City / 中国职业医学

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the current situation of the quality of life and its related factors among assembly line workers in manufacturers of Zhongshan City. METHODS: By cluster sampling method,1 485 assembly line workers from five manufacturing enterprises of Zhongshan City were selected as study subjects. The quality of life was measured by SF-36 scale. RESULTS: The dimension scores of physical functioning,physical role,body pain,general health,vitality,and social function of 1 485 workers were higher than those of normal people in Sichuan and Hangzhou( P < 0. 01). The score of emotional function dimension were higher than those of normal people in Sichuan( P < 0. 01). But the dimension score of mental health was lower than those of the normal people of Sichuan and Hangzhou( P < 0. 01). The multiple linear regression analysis result indicated that the quality of life of assembly line workers was influenced by monthly income,night shift,occupational hazard protection device and regular physical exercise( P < 0. 05). CONCLUSION: The mental health score of assembly line workers in manufacturers was low. The overall score was influenced by employment status and physical exercise.

Relationship between perceptions of safety climate at workplace and depressive disorders in manufacturing workers / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the risk factors for depressive disorders in manufacturing workers and to provide a basis for developing health promotion measures at workplace.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A questionnaire survey was performed in 8085 front-line production workers from 33 manufacturing enterprises in Nanhai District of Foshan, Guangdong Province, China. The questionnaire contained a survey of demographic characteristics, the Safety Climate Scale, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, etc. The multilevel logistic regression analysis was applied to investigate the risk factors for depressive disorders in workers.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 6260 workers completed the survey; their mean age was 31.1 ± 8.6 years, and 53.2% of them were males. The multilevel logistic regression analysis showed that after adjustment for sociodemographic factors such as age, sex, and martial status, more depressive disorders were reported in the enterprises with higher score of "production safety training" than in those with lower score (OR = 1.46, 95%CI = 1.07 ∼ 1.97); fewer depressive disorders were reported in the enterprises with higher score of "colleagues concerned about production safety" than in those with lower score (OR = 0.08, 95%CI = 0.03 ∼ 0.26); the relationships of "safety warnings and precautions" and "managers concerned about production safety" with workers' depressive disorders were not statistically significant (OR = 0.78, 95%CI = 0.48 ∼ 1.28; OR = 1.08, 95%CI = 0.68 ∼ 1.72).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Depressive disorders in manufacturing workers are related to the safety climate at workplace, which indicates that a good safety climate at workplace should be created to prevent and control depressive disorders in workers.</p>

Therapeutic efficacy of endoscopic variceal ligation to treat gastric varices: a study of 63 consecutive cases / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the therapeutic efficacy of endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL) for treating various types of gastric varices (GV) by reviewing patient cases in order to identify the influencing factors of EVL-related recurrence and rebleeding.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The medical records of 101 GV cases treated by EVL in our department between January 2008 and October 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. The cases were grouped according to GV type: type 1 (GOV1, n = 63), type 2 (GOV2, n = 18), GOV1 coexisting with GOV2 (n = 11), isolated GOV1 (IGV1, n = 9), and GOV2 (IGV2, n = 0). Data from follow-up examinations (range: 1.5 - 48.0 months, average: 14.9 +/- 9.1 months) were extracted for analysis and included early (less than 72 h after EVL) and late (72 h to 6 weeks after EVL) rebleeding and recurrence. In addition, data from computed tomography (CT) or CT angiography (CTA), performed in 32 of the patients, were extracted to determine the influence of supplying veins, gastrorenal or splenorenal shunts, and portal vein and/or splenic vein diameters on GV recurrence. Data analysis was carried out by ANOVA, Chi-square, Fisher's exact or rank-sum tests, as appropriate. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to evaluate the time of first recurrent bleeding, and the log-rank test was used to compare between-group differences.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>GOV2 and IGV1 varices were more severe than the varices of GOV1 (GOV2 and GOV1: u = -2.960; IGV1 and GOV1: u = -2.871; both P less than 0.05). GOV1 had a significantly lower recurrence rate than all other GV types (x2 = 7.054, P less than 0.05). The CT and CTA data indicated that all GV were supplied by left gastric veins, while 83.3% of IGV1 had blood supplementation by left gastric veins and short gastric or posterior gastric veins, and 100% of IGV1 had gastrorenal or splenorenal shunts. Approximately one-half of the total GV cases (56.3%, 18/32) had gastrorenal or splenorenal shunts, and this parameter was correlated with portal vein diameter (t = -2.766, P less than 0.05). The presence of gastrorenal or splenorenal shunts was correlated with both recurrence and rebleeding (P less than 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>EVL can effectively control bleeding and prevent rebleeding for GV; although, the best therapeutic efficacy and lowest rate of recurrence was achieved in GOV1 cases. The presence of gastrorenal or splenorenal shunts increases the risk of GV recurrence.</p>

Associations of occupational safety atmosphere and behaviors with unintentional injuries / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the associations of perception of safety atmosphere at workplace, occupational safety attitude and behaviors with occupational unintentional injury among manufacturing workers.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A cross-sectional study was performed and a self-administered questionnaire was used to inquire socio-demographic characteristics, perceived safety atmosphere, occupational safety attitudes, occupational safety behaviors and occupational unintentional injuries among 10585 manufacturing workers selected from 46 enterprises in Guangdong. Structural equation modeling was applied to assess the relationship of the perception of safety atmosphere at workplace, occupational safety attitude, and occupational safety behaviors with occupational unintentional injury.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among 24 pathways supposed in structural equation model, 20 pathways (except for the attitude toward occupational safety, the attitude toward managers' support, the work posture and individual protection) were significantly related to the occupational unintentional injuries. The further analysis indicated that the perceived safety atmosphere might impact the occupational unintentional injuries by the attitude toward occupational safety and occupational safety behaviors.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Workers' perception of safety atmosphere indirectly influenced on occupational unintentional injuries through occupational safety attitudes and occupational safety behaviors.</p>

Significance of lipopolysaccharide binding protein in serum and ascites of patients with hepatic cirrhosis complicated with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the levels of lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) in serum and ascites of cirrhotic patients, and determine their diagnostic value for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Cirrhotic patients were divided into groups according to diagnosis of SBP, ascites without SBP, no ascites. To explore the significance of LBP in clinically suspect SBP cases, the ascites without SBP group was sub-divided into two groups according to the symptoms of abdominal pain or elevated white blood cell (WBC) count, and abdominal pain combined with elevated WBC count. Two control groups were composed of patients with intraperitoneal pus and a group of healthy, non-cirrhotic individuals. The LBP levels in serum and ascites were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The ascites routine, ascites culture and albumin assay were carried out in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. Data between the two groups were compared using the t-test or nonparametric test of independent samples, and the areas under the curve were compared using the Z test. Results The levels of LBP in serum and pus were significantly higher in the intraperitoneal pus group than in the cirrhosis group with ascites (P less than 0.01).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The level of serum LBP was significantly higher in the cirrhosis group with SBP than in the cirrhosis group without SBP but with ascites and the cirrhosis group with no ascites (P less than 0.01). There was no significant difference in the level of ascites LBP in the cirrhosis group with SBP and the cirrhosis group without SBP but with ascites (P more than 0.05). In the clinically suspect cases with SBP, the levels of LBP in serum and ascites were significantly higher than those in the cirrhosis group without SBP but with ascites (228.00 mug/ml vs. 80.95 mug/ml and 22.50 mug/ml vs. 11.45 mug/ml, P less than 0.05). Determination of serum LBP had a higher sensitivity than the determination of ascites LBP or ascites WBC.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Gram-negative bacteria infection in the intra-abdominal cavity causes serum and body fluid levels of LBP to increase significantly. Patients with cirrhosis complicated with SBP have significantly elevated levels of serum LBP. The serum and ascites LBP levels are significantly elevated in SBP patients with suspected clinical diagnosis. Measurements of both the serum LBP and ascites LBP may have diagnostic value for SBP.</p>

Study on the association between emotional abuse and other psychosocial factors with depressive symptom in junior high school students / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To investigate the association between emotional abuse, family structure, family support, type D personality and depressive symptom in junior high school students.Methods 3160 junior high school students were recruited with stratified sampling method in Guangzhou to conmplete a self-administered questionnaire including Depression Self-rating Scale for Children, Parent-Child Conflict Tactic Scale, Type D Scale-14, Family Structure Scale, Relative Support Scale and general information. Correlation and path analysis were performed to explore the association of emotional abuse, family structure, family support and type D personality with depressive symptom and their potential pathways. Results ( 1 ) The average level of depressive symptom was higher in girls than in boys, and age was positively related to depressive disorder (r = 0.06, P = 0.001 ).(2)Correlation analysis indicated that family support was a protective factor for depressive symptom,while emotional abuse, type D personality and family structure with single parent were risk factors for depressive symptom. (3)Data from Path analysis showed that the negative affection had the strongest impact on depressive symptom with a path coefficient of 0.37, followed by family support (-0.246),emotional abuse (0.203), social inhibition (0.075) and family structure (0.047). All the path coefficients were statistically significant. Emotional abuse indirectly impacted on depressive disorder through negative affectivity and family support (the path coefficients were 0.119 and 0.05,respectively), while family structure had the smallest indirect impact on depressive symptom.Conclusion Depressive symptom in junior high school students was affected by multiple psychosocial factors, suggesting that comprehensive measures should be taken to prevent the occurrence and development of depressive symptom.

Effectiveness of p38MAPK activity during drug resistance against HepG2 / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effectiveness of p38MAPK activity during drug resistance against HepG2.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>HepG2/CDDP kinetic anti-cancer drug resistance model was constructed using anti-cancer drug inducing method and treated with P38MAPK inhibitor SB203580 for 24, 48 and 72 hours respectively. Flow cytometry (FCM) was used to detect the cell cycle distribution. The IC50 of cisplatin was determined by MTT method in vitro. The expressions of P-P38, P-gp, Bcl-2 and Bax were examined by Western blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The HepG2/CDDP kinetic drug resistance model was successfully established. The expression of P-P38 increased with the increasing drug resistance against HepG2 cells. The models treated with SB203580 could gradually elevate the sensitivity of HepG2/CDDP to cisplatin, block the detention of cell cycle, up-regulate the expression of Bax and down-regulate the expressions of Bcl-2 and P-gp.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The expression of P-P38 increased with the increasing drug resistance against hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Suppressing the activation of P38 could reverse the drug resistance phenotype against hepatocellular carcinoma cells.</p>

Efficacy of endoscopic variceal ligation and its correlation with liver function / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the efficacy of endoscopic variceal ligation and its correlation with liver function.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>322 patients received EVL (endoscopic variceal ligation) and 34 patients with PDP (pericardial devascularization procedure) were retrospectively analyzed and divided into groups A, B and C. These patients were then subdivided into bleeding and non-bleeding subgroups according to Child-Pugh scores of liver function and history of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. The bleeding rate and mortality were contrasted between EVL and PDP. Liver function, Platelet count, leucocyte count and spleen thickness of before and after ligation were contrasted in EVL.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The bleeding rate and mortality were 1.7%, 3.4%, 7.0%; 0%, 5.1%, 8.1% in EVL group and 9.1%, 14.3%, 100.0%; 0%, 9.5%, 50.0% in PDP group, respectively. Variceal obliteration needed means of 2.1+/-0.7, 3.1+/-0.8 and 4.2+/-1.2 sessions in A, B and C ligation groups, respectively (F = 41.2, P is less than 0.01). On subgroup analysis, the numbers of ligation session were 2.6+/-0.7, 3.2+/-0.9 and 4.3+/-1.1 in A, B and C bleeding subgroup (F = 39.3, P value is less than 0.01) and 2.0+/-0.6, 2.7+/-0.6, and 2.9+/-0.4 in A, B and C non-bleeding subgroup, respectively (F = 17.0, P value is less than 0.01). ALT, AST, Platelet count and leucocyte count reduced significantly, spleen thickness increased remarkably in bleeding subgroup after ligation.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The efficacy of EVL was significantly negatively correlated with liver function and prior to pericardial devascularization procedure. EVL had no effect on liver function but might increase spleen thickness and aggravate hypersplenism. EVL was recommended especially for the bleeding liver cirrhosis patients with Child B and C scores.</p>

Mediation of abdominal obesity on the association between cigarette smoking and β-cell function / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To confirm the effect of cigarette smoking on β-cell function, and further investigate the mediation effect of abdominal obesity. Methods Participants would include 1440 Chinese smokers who had participated in a community-based chronic disease screening project in Guangzhou and Zhuhai from 2006 to 2007. They were interviewed with structured questionnaire on their socio-demographic status and smoking behaviors. Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and fasting serum C-peptide concentration were also measured. Results After adjustment for the potential confounding factors, when compared with smokers with consumption 1-10 cigarettes/day, smokers with consumption of 11-20 cigarettes/day (adjusted OR=1.53, 95%CI: 1.22-1.90) or ＞20 cigarettes/day (adjusted OR=1.92, 95%CI: 1.32-2.79) had significant higher risks to get C-peptide concentration larger than its median. Furthermore, 37.54% of the effect of cigarette smoking on C-peptide concentration was partially mediated by abdominal obesity. Conclusion Cigarette smoking might be a risk factor for β-cell dysfunction and abdominal obesity.

A Meta-analysis on the association between maternal passive smoking during pregnancy and small-for-gestational-age infants / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To study the association between maternal passive smoking during pregnancy and the small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants and to analyze independent factors on duration,in different areas.Methods Totally,8 retrospective studies published in PubMed (no year limited),OVID-MEDLINE (no year limited),CNKI (from 1911 to 2008),VIP (from 1989 to 2008),and CBM (no year limited),on maternal passive smoking during pregnancy and SGA were analyzed synthetically by Meta-analysis.Results The unadjusted pooled OR value on the association between maternal passive smoking during pregnancy and SGA was 1.45 (95%CI: 1.05-2.01).Data showed that the adjusted pooled OR value was 1.76 (95%Ch 1.15-2.69).Maternal passive smoking in early pregnancy was a risk factor for SGA(OR=1.85,95%Ch 1.25-2.72),and so was the exposure in mid or late pregnancy (OR=2.12,95%Ch 1.43-3.13).No statistically significant relationship between SGA and passive smoking at home or at workplace was found.Conclusion Avoiding passive smoking in pregnancy for mothers could reduce the possibility of delivering SGA infants.Other than at home or at workplace,problem of passive smoking in other places should also be brought up.

Antimicrobial activity and GC-MS analysis of essential oil from lavender extracted by supercritical CO2 extraction and hydrodistillation / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the antimicrobial activity in vitro and chemical composition of essential oil from lavender extracted by supercritical CO2 extraction (SFE-CO2) process and hydrodistillation.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The antimicrobial activities against 4 bacteria and 4 fungi strains of these two oils were evaluated by using the agar disc diffusion and agar dilution method to determine the inhibition zone, minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal/fungicidal concentration (MBC/MFC). A GC-MS method was established to determine the chemical components of essential oils.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>These two oils presented remarkable antimicrobiat activities against all tested strains in vitro. Compared with the hydrodistillation product, SFE-CO, oil showed better antimicrobial activity against either bacteria or fungi of which MIC values were 0.63-3.33 g x L(-1) and the MBC/MFC values were 1.04-5.00 g x L(-1). By GC-MS analysis, 34 and 29 compounds identified cover 95.51% and 98. 39% of total peak area of substances appeared. The main differences between SFE-CO2 oil and hydrodistillation oil were the amounts of linalyl acetate and 5-methyl-2-(1-methylethenyl)-4-hexen-1-ol acetate.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Results presented here may suggest that the essential oil of lavender extracted by SFE-CO2 possesses has better antimicrobial properties, and therefore it is a potential source of antimicrobial ingredients for pharmaceutical industry.</p>

Relationship of occupational stress and negative life events with low birth weight / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the influence of occupational stress and negative life events on low birth weight (LBW).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>1:1 matched case-control study was employed, in which 438 singleton LBW infants with birth weight less than 2500 g (their pregnancy term being 28 to 42 weeks) served as case group while 438 with singleton term normal birth weight served as control group matched by sex, delivery time and hospital. All of their mothers were inquired by well trained investigators about their socio-demographic characteristics, occupational stress, and negative life events occurring in different pregnancy term. After controlling for mother's age, occupation, education level and family income, conditional logistic regression was employed to asses the influence of occupational stress and negative life events on LBW.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with those with low technical skill utilization and low job decision, mothers with high technical skill utilization (OR=0.62; 95% CI=0.43 approximately 0.91) and high job decision (OR=0.67; 95% CI=0.46 approximately 0.97) significantly decreased the risk of laboring LBW. Compared with those not exposed to negative life events, mothers with negative life event score being=3 in the middle three months of pregnancy (OR=18.85; 95% CI=1.58 approximately 225.02), with negative life event score being 1 in the later three months of pregnancy (OR=2.67; 95% CI=1.14 approximately 6.28), with negative life event score being 2 (OR=2.80; 95% CI=1.04 approximately 7.52) and=3 in the whole time of pregnancy (OR=2.94; 95% CI=1.22 approximately 7.09) were the risk factors of LBW.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Negative life events might affect LBW and negative life events occurring in the different term of pregnancy impact LBW differently.</p>

Using satisfaction questionnaire status version (DTSQs) to study on the reliability, construct validity and responsiveness of diabetes treatment among Chinese diabetic outpatients / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Using 'diabetes treatment satisfaction questionnaire status version (DTSQs)' to evaluate the reliability, validity and responsiveness, among Chinese type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) outpatients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A cross-sectional study was carried out in 749 T2DM outpatients from seven hospitals in Guangzhou and Shanghai, China. The DTSQs was self-administered by patients, under the help from interviewers for those having difficulties in reading. Split-half reliability correlation coefficient, Cronbach alpha and Spearman' were used to test the reliability. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were employed separately to examine the construct validity of the scale. The responsiveness of the scale was appraised by the multiple analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The split-half correlation coefficient was 0.807 and the Cronbach alpha was 0.717 of the six items on satisfaction of treatment. The three factors extracted by EFA explained 67.656% of the overall variance. The relative chi2 was 4.95 and DK was 0.18 in the goodness of test by CFA. The vector of treatment satisfaction, perceived hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia were different in males versus females and in poor versus good blood glucose controlled groups. The DTSQs showed good reliability and validity among T2DM outpatients.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>DTSQs was applicable to Chinese T2DM patients.</p>

Study on food preference and dietary behavior to overweight/obesity in school children and adolescents in Guangzhou: a case-control study / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective This study assessed the effect of food preference and dietary behaviors on the risk of overweight or obesity in school children and adolescents aged 6-19 years.Methods A11 overweight or obeoe students,with age-and school-matched controls were recruited for this case-control study from 28 elementary and secondary schools in Guangzhou urban districts from October 2006 to April 2007.Weight and height were measured,and body nlass index was calculated for the classification of obesity.overweight and underweight.Their food preference and behaviors were asesbed using a structured questionnaire completed by their parents.Behavior and food preference were classified into four levels.and the relevant bottom levels were defined as control groups.Logistic regression wfs used to assess independent determinants of overweight and obesity.Results Among 7136 participants,1947 cases and 2136 normal weight controls from 5755 students with valid questionnaire data were included in the study.Results from univariate analysis showed that odds ratios for overweight or obesity were 0.60-0.69 in those with moat preference(top group)on vegetables,fruits,candy,evening snacks,0.50 in the students of less food partiality,1.84,1.30 and 1.26 in those of most preference for pork,beef and deep-fried foods.and 5.14 in students with fastest speed during eating,respectively(all P<0.05).Vegetable intake,evening snacks preference,speed during eating and food partiality remained with significant agsociation with overweight and obesity in multivariate analysis after adjusted for age,sex,family socio-economical status and their parents' body build. The adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of the above items became 0.55 (0.42-0.73), 0.48 (0.35-0.65), 0.50(0.39-0.65),and 4.32(3.23-5.80) as compared to the relevant lowest categories, respecively. Conclusion Behaviors as eating more vegetable and slow-eating might be protective factos against overweight and obesity in school clildren.

A Meta-analysis on the association between adiponectin gene 45T/G/276G/T polymorphisms and type 2 diabetes in Chinese population / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective Association between the 45T/G and 276G/T single nueleotide polymorphisms of adiponectin gene and the occurrence of type 2 diabetes in Chinese population was studied. Methods 20 studies consisting 22 ease-control comparisons about 45T/G polymorphism and nine case-control studies about 276G/T polymorphism that were based on our inclusion criterion and available in the literature were reviewed. Results Results from Meta-analysis demonstrated a large heterogeneity among the studies both on 45T/G and 276G/T polymorphisms and a significant association was observed between 45T/G polymorphism at exon 2 of the adiponectin gene and type 2 diabetes among the Chinese population. 45Gallele appeared to be one of the genetic risk factors for susceptibility to type 2 diabetes with a random effects odds ratio ( OR ) of 1.43 ( 95 % CI : 1.17-1.75 ), and the G allele carriers were more susceptible to the disease with an OR of 1.38 ( 95 % CI : 1.04-1.84 ). Results from Meta-analysis, however, showed no association between the 276G/T polymorphism and type 2 diabetes in the Chinese populationr while the random effects OR of the allele 276T to susceptibility of disease was 0.83 (95% CI: 0.61-1.13).Conclusion The current paper on Meta-analysis demonstrated a correlation between the 45T/G single nucleotide polymorphism and the occurrence of type 2 diabetes in Chinese population, which was different from the findings that such an association with 276G/T polymorphism could not be demonstrated in the same ethnic population.

Influence of stress from work and negative life events during pregnancy on different types of low birth weight / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To explore the influence of occupational stress and negative life events that occur during pregnancy on different types of low birth weight (LBW). Methods 438 singleton LBW infants (birth weight of less than 2500 g and their pregnancy term from 28 to 42 weeks) were selected as case group, and they were further divided into symmetric LBW infants (337 cases) and asymmetric LBW infants (101 cases). According to situation of each LBW infant, a singleton with full term and normal birth weight was selected as control group matched by sex, pregnancy term, time during delivery and types of hospital.All of their mothers were inquired by well trained investigators on their socio-demographic characteristics, occupational stress, and negative life events that occurred in different pregnancy term. After controlling for mother's age, occupation,education level and family income, multinomial logistic regression was employed to asses the influence of occupational stress and negative life events on symmetric LBW and asymmetric LBW. Results Compared with those using low technical skills, mothers with high technical skill utilization significantly decreased the risk of laboring both symmetric LBW ( OR = 0.69, 95 ％ CI:0.49-0.98) and asymmetric LBW (OR = 0.53,95％CI: 0.31-0.89). Compared with those without exposure to negative life events, mothers with negative life event score ≥ 3 in the whole duration of pregnancy had significantly increased the risk of delivering symmetric LBW ( OR = 2.30, 95％ CI : 1.08-4.88), mothers with negative life event score ≥3 in the middle three months of pregnancy, ≥3 in the last three months of pregnancy, = 2 and ≥3 in the whole duration of pregnancy had significantly increased the risk of delivering asymmetric LBW, and their OR (95 ％ CI ) was 8.85 (1.97-39.68), 3.80 ( 1.40-10.29 ),3.58(1.33-9.66) and 3.48 (1.32-9.13), respectively. Conclusion Occupational stress and negative life events might produce different influence on symmetric LBW and negative life events that occurr in the different terms of pregnancy had different impact on symmetric LBW and asymmetric LBW.

Validity and reliability of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Version 4.0 Generic Core Scales in Chinese children and adolescents / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the reliability and validity of parent proxy-report scales of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Version 4.0 (PedsQL 4.0) Generic Core Scales, the Chinese Version.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>3493 school students aged 6-18 years were recruited using multistage cluster sampling method. Health-related quality of life was assessed using the above-mentioned PedsQL 4.0 scales. The internal consistency was assessed, using Cronbach's a coefficient, while its validity was tested through correlation analysis, t-test and exploratory factor analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The internal consistency reliability for Total Scale Score (Cronbach's alpha = 0.90), Physical Health Summary Score (alpha= 0.81), and Psychosocial Health Summary Score (alpha= 0.89) were excellent. Six major factors were extracted by factor analysis which basically matched the designed structure of the original version accounting for nearly 66% of the variance. The total Scale Score significantly decreased by 3.5 to 13.3 (P < 0.05) in children and adolescents who had diseases including cold, skin hypersensitiveness, food allergy, courbature or arthralgia, breathlessness with a frequency of 6 times or more per year or had asthma as compared to those with lower frequency (< or = 5 times/y) of the diseases or without asthma. We found moderate to high correlations between items and the subscales. Correlation coefficients ranged between 0.45 to 0.84 (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The reliability and validity of the parent proxy-report scales of PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales of the Chinese Version were as good as the original version. Our findings suggested that the scales could be applied to evaluate the health-related quality of life in childhood children in similar Chinese regions to Guangzhou.</p>

Potential infections of H5N1 and H9N2 avian influenza do exist in Guangdong populations of China / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Southeast China is one of the sites of influenza origin. During 2003--2004, nine avian influenza outbreaks took place in Guangdong Province. But no human case was reported. To examine the status of potential human infection by human influenza (H1N1, H3N2) and avian influenza (H5N1, H7N7, H9N2) in the avian influenza epidemic area of Guangdong Province, China, we conducted a seroepidemiologic survey in the people of this area from April to June of 2004.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Three out of 9 H5N1 avian influenza affected poultry areas in Guangdong were randomly selected, and the population living within 3 kilometers of the affected poultries were chosen as the survey subjects. One thousand two hundred and fourteen people were selected from 3 villages at random. Human and avian influenza antibody titers were determined by hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test and microneutralization test (MNT).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positive rate of antibody to H5N1 was 3.03% in the occupational exposure group and 2.34% in general citizens group; that of H9N2 was 9.52% in the occupational exposure group and 3.76% in the general citizens group. Moreover one case in the occupational exposure group was positive for H7N7. One year later, all previously positive cases had become negative except for one H5N1-positive case.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The observations imply that H5N1 and H9N2 avian influenza silent infections exist in Guangdong populations.</p>

A study of reliability and validity of appraisal questionnaire (Chinese language version) of human immunodeficiency virus positive persons / 中华预防医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the Chinese language version of the appraisal questionnaire (AQ) for HIV/AIDS (HIV positive persons).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The scale was translated and adapted into Chinese and then reversely translated into English. The internal consistency reliability, structural validity, differential validity and predictive validity were evaluated by prevalence study in the city of Guangzhou.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Cronbach's alpha coefficient achieved a value ranged from 0.530 to 0.886, with satisfied predicted validity. The regression equation accounted for 24.4% of variance in anxiety, and all factors of cognition accounted for 11.4% of variance, among all factors, only factor one had significant influence on anxiety (t=3.838, P<0.001); the regression equation accounted for 38.6% of variance in depression, and all factors of cognition accounted for 26.0% of variance. Factor I and factor II had significant influence on depression (t=5.707, P<0.001; t = -2.876, P<0.01). The results of differential validity suggested the mean scores of factor III were lower in the group with lower education level and monthly salary. Meanwhile, the persons with monthly salary under 300 yuan RMB had higher mean score of factor I, and the persons with lower academic degree had lower mean score of factor II. The principal-components factor analysis yielded three factors with common factor larger than 1.0, which were threat, challenge and controllability; and the three factors accounted for 62.23% of the total variance.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The AQ Chinese version attained satisfactory reliability and validity. Even considering some essential explanatory words for the Chinese version, the scale might be attempted to use in the population with HIV in our country.</p>

Process evaluation on a health promotion model regarding smoking prevention among Chinese secondary school students / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the process of smoking prevention and control among Chinese adolescent with a model on health promotion in junior high school.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A cluster-randomized, controlled and schooled-based trial on smoking prevention was conducted among 2343 students at four secondary schools in Huangpu District of Guangzhou. Students 'reports and investigators' daily records were used to evaluate the intervention measures.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>During the one-year period of intervention (Dec. 2004 through Dec. 2005), eighteen activities had been implemented among students, teachers, parents and cigarette retailers. Ranked by the rate of awareness, the top six activities were shown as follows: "the nicotine toxicity experiment" (90.7%), "agreement of building families free of smoking"(77.7%), "a letter to parents" (77.1%), "no-smoking signs" (76.5%), "Blackboard information about health and smoking" (75.0%), and "signature on the 18th World Day of No Smoking" (70.2%). Among all the activities, "the nicotine toxicity experiment" had the highest rate of participation (88.5%), followed by "a letter to parents" (73.6%), "agreement of building families free of smoking" (69.8%), "health education through experiments"(68.6%), "health education through multimedia" (65.7%) and "signature on the 18th World Day of No Smoking" (65.6%). The top seven activities in which students showed greatest interests were "the nicotine toxicity experiment" (64.5%), "signature on the 18th World Day of No Smoking" (33.0%), "health education through experiments" (31.2%), "health education through multimedia" (29.8%), "class meetings with a thesis of smoking" (26.8%), "health pamphlets" (26.6%), "specific textbooks" (25.9%). The extent of students' general satisfaction to the work of tobacco control in school during the last year was 52.4%. The biggest perceived shortcoming for the intervention plan was the low participation of students.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Some intervention measures had not been fully carried out among the students and only covered part of them. It is necessary to adjust the previous intervention measures through keeping the nicotine toxicity experiment, health education through multimedia and other measures with extensive participation of students and at the same time, to avoid literal materials, exhibition boards and traditional single-way health education program.</p>