Xiao-dong Tan’s research while affiliated with Wuhan University and other places

Objective: To assess the impact of the "Oriental Star shipwreck event" on the risk of schistosomiasis transmission in Jianli County, Hubei Province, so as to provide the evidence for formulating appropriate measures of schistosomiasis prevention and control. Methods: Based on the field observation and investigation, the data of the on-the-spot rescue and the historical endemic situation of schistosomiasis in Jianli County were collected and analyzed. Meanwhile, the focus group discussion and risk matrix were conducted to assess the risk of schistosome infection of the rescuers. Results: Over 10 000 rescuers participated in the search operation, including the armed police forces, local people, reservists and so on. The armed police forces were the major components, which accounted for 39%. Jianli country was schistosomiasis endemic area with a high infection level in history, but the endemic situation had been mitigated significantly after years of positive prevention and treatment; the schistosome infection rate of population was 0.44% in 2014 and the Oncomelania hupensis snail area was only 6.6 hm2 around the rescue areas in the upstream and downstream. In addition, the snail density was not high, and no infected snails had been found for 11 years. The risk of schistosome infection was in the medium level. Conclusions: Though there exists the schistosome infection risk in the water area where the accident happened, the probability of occurrence is not high. In order to prevent the outbreak and endemic of schistosomiasis, the protection measures and health education to the rescuers as well as snail control and monitoring, and early-warning should be strengthened.

Schistosomiasis is the second widespread tropical disease that affects the health of over 240 million people of 78 countries. Questionnaires have been commonly used to diagnose schistosomiasis, while no meta-analysis of their efficacy had been reported previously. This meta-analysis was conducted to assess their diagnostic accuracy of schistosomiasis. Studies published prior to December 1, 2014, that had used questionnaires as a diagnostic tool were searched in PubMed, Medline, EMBASE, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database. A total of 32 studies with 72,812 cases were identified for the meta-analysis. The best diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was obtained from Schistosoma haematobium (67.68, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 31.48 to 145.54), followed by Schistosoma japonicum (11.74, 95 % CI = 4.59 to 30.05) then Schistosoma mansoni (2.98, 95 % CI = 1.95 to 4.54). Pooled sensitivity and specificity were respectively 0.82, 0.88, and 0.46, and 0.59, 0.86, and 0.81 for S. japonicum, S. haematobium, and S. mansoni. The multivariable subgroup analyses showed that the questionnaires which had been pretested and standardized had better diagnostic performance. The result suggested that questionnaires can be used to diagnose schistosomiasis with moderate sensitivity and specificity and the questionnaires for diagnosing S. haematobium performed best.

Cervical cancer is the second cause of cancer death in females in their 20s and 30s, but there were limited studies about its prognosis. This study aims to identify miRNA related to prognosis and study their functions. TCGA data of patients with cervical cancer were used to build univariate Cox's model with single clinical parameter or miRNA expression level. Multivariate Cox's model was built using both clinical information and miRNA expression levels. At last, STRING was used to enrich gene ontology or pathway for validated targets of significant miRNAs, and visualize the interactions among them. Using univariate Cox's model with clinical parameters, we found that two clinical parameters, tobacco use and clinical stage, and seven miRNAs were highly correlated with the survival status. Only using the expression level of miRNA signatures, the model could separate patients into high-risk and lowrisk groups successfully. An optimal feature-selected model was proposed based on two clinical parameters and seven miRNAs. Functional analysis of these seven miRNAs showed they were associated to various pathways related to cancer, including MAPK, VEGF and P53 pathways. These results helped the research of identifying targets for targeted therapy which could potentially allow tailoring of treatment for cervical cancer patients.

To evaluate the levels of the Chinese literature published by the schistosomiasis control institutions of 17 municipal cities of Hubei Province. The related literature published from 2008 to 2012 was searched from the databases of CNKI, VIP and Wanfang and then screened by the exclusion criteria. NoteExpress and Excel softwares were applied to collect the literature and carry out the bibliometric analysis. A total of 168 papers were included and the schistosomiasis control institutes of Jingzhou City and Wuhan City had the highest amount. The literature was mainly published in Chinese Journal of Schistosomiasis Control and Journal of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. The comprehensive influence indexes of the schistosomiasis control institutes of Jingzhou, Wuhan and Qianjiang cities were higher. The schistosomiasis control institutes of Jingzhou City had an extensive content of literature while Wuhan was mainly focused on epidemiology, case report and Oncomelania hupensis snail control. The research of schistosomiasis in each municipal city has an extensive content and the research capacity of the schistosomiasis control institute of Jingzhou City is relatively outstanding.

To evaluate the performance of schistosomiasis detection and treatment program in Hubei Province in 2011, so as to enhance the benefit and management of the program. In 63 schistosomiasis epidemic counties of Hubei Province, there were 3 types of endemic situation, that was endemic controlled, transmission controlled, and transmission interrupted. Six counties (districts) in each type were selected by the stratified random sampling method. The data including schistosomiasis detection and treatment, fund utilization and others were collected and analyzed statistically in 2011. The completion rate of schistosomiasis detection task was 103.9% and the completion rate of chemotherapy task 106.9%. The total fund was 73.815 million Yuan. The detection cost accounted for 12.0% while the chemotherapy cost accounted for 4.9%. The detection cost per capita was 9.03 Yuan and the treatment cost per capita was 10.35 Yuan. The cost effectiveness ratio was 1:6.1 and the net cost effectiveness ratio was 1:5.1. The social-economic benefits in schistosomiasis control and treatment are obvious. However, the resource allocation still needs to be optimized.

To evaluate the status of the Chinese literatures published by the 5 institutes of schistosomiasis prevention and control in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Jiangsu provinces from 2002 to 2011. All the Chinese literatures on schistosomiasis research published by the five provincial institutes of schistosomiasis prevention and control in lake regions of China from 2002 to 2011 were collected and analyzed by using the bibliometric software NoteExpress 2. Authors, journals, published date, and study affiliations were captured. The number of the published literatures from 2002 to 2011 was 1 127 and the comprehensive influence index was 984.547 presenting an uptrend. Most of the papers were published in the Chinese Journal of Schistosomiasis Control accounting for 50.5%, and the core authors based on Zhou, Liang, and Hong were formed. Jiangsu Institute of Parasitic Diseases was the first in all the statistical indexes. However, there existed an unbalanced phenomenon among the five provinces in the total status, author's information and the comprehensive influence index. The number of the literatures increased steadily and the quality improved especially in Jiangsu Province. However, there exists an obvious imbalance in literature type distribution. The communication of scientific research is an urgent need in order to improve scientific research.