To assess the association between maternal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and low birth weight (LBW)/prematurity (PTD), we conducted a meta-analysis of cohort studies of HIV infected and uninfected women. Several English and Chinese databases were searched (updated to May 2015) to find the studies reporting infant outcomes associated with exposure to maternal HIV infection during pregnancy. Relevant articles were manually selected based on several inclusion and exclusion criteria. Fifty-two cohort studies including 15,538 (for LBW) and 200,896 (for PTD) HIV infected women met the inclusion criteria. There was significant heterogeneity among studies for maternal HIV infection associated with LBW/PTD (I2 = 71.7 %, P < 0.05, and I2 = 51.8 %, P < 0.05 for LBW and PTD, respectively). The meta-analysis demonstrated that the maternal HIV infection was significantly associated with both LBW (pooled odds ratio (OR): 1.73, 95 % confidence interval (CI): 1.64, 1.82, P < 0.001) and PTD (pooled OR: 1.56, 95 % CI: 1.49, 1.63, P < 0.001). No significant difference in the relationship between maternal HIV infection and adverse pregnancy outcomes was detected among the groups of different study periods. HIV infected women were at slightly higher risk of LBW in developing countries compared with women in developed countries (OR: 2.12 (95 % CI: 1.81, 2.48) vs. 1.75 (95 % CI: 1.44, 2.12)). Antiretroviral drugs usage did not significantly change the associations of maternal HIV exposure with LBW and PTD. HIV infected women were at higher risk of having a low birth weight infant or a preterm delivery infant compared with uninfected women. Such associations did not change significantly over time or were not significantly affected by the usage of antiretroviral drugs.

Background: Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections can cause a significant disease burden. It is estimated that 1.5 billion people worldwide are infected with STHs, primarily in tropical and subtropical regions. This study aimed to assess the distribution of the global burden and trend of STH infections from 1990 to 2021. Methods: We retrieved data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2021 on the age-standardized rates (ASRs) of prevalence and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) of STH infections for all age groups in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2021. The ASRs of prevalence and DALYs by age, gender, and socio-demographic index (SDI) were calculated to quantify the spatial distribution and temporal trend. Spearman correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between ASR and SDI. Results: In 2021, there were an estimated 642.72 million cases and 1.38 million DALYs caused by STH infections worldwide. The age-standardized prevalence rate (ASPR) of STH infections was 8429.89 [95% uncertainty interval (UI): 7697.23, 9362.18 ] per 100,000 population globally. The ASPR of STH infections varied across 21 geographic regions in 2021, being mainly prevalent in most African and Latin American locations. The prevalence was higher in the groups of 5–19 years, especially the group of 5–9 years with the ASPR of 16,263 (95% UI: 14,877.06, 18,003.49) and ASR of DALYs of 40.69 (95% UI: 25.98, 60.91) per 100,000. The ASPR of STH infections showed an obvious decreasing trend worldwide (estimated annual percent change = − 4.03, 95% confidence interval: − 4.13, − 3.93) with variations in different species infections during the study years. At the regional level, the ASR of STH infections prevalence (r = − 0.8807, P < 0.0001) and DALYs (r = − 0.9069, P < 0.0001) were negatively correlated with SDI . Conclusions: STH infections remain a public health problem in 2021, particularly in regions such as the middle parts of Africa and Americas, and in the 5–19 age populations. The reduction in the rate of prevalence and the loss of DALYs are negatively correlated with the increase in SDI. Enhancing political commitment, providing accurate preventive chemotherapy, and advancing techniques for surveillance and mapping systems are essential to achieve the target of ending STH infections as a public health problem by 2030. Graphical

Cryptosporidium is a protozoan parasite that can infect both humans and animals and cause cryptosporidiosis. We aimed to estimate the global prevalence of

Over the past decades China has made a great stride in controlling schistosomiasis, eliminating transmission of Schistosoma japonicum in 5 provinces and remarkably reducing transmission intensities in the rest of the seven endemic provinces. Recently, an integrated control strategy, which focuses on interventions on humans and bovines, has been implemented throughout endemic areas in China. This strategy assumes that a reduction in transmission of S. japonicum from humans and bovines to the intermediate Oncomelania snail host would eventually block the transmission of this parasite, and has yielded effective results in some endemic areas. Yet the transmission of S. japonicum is relatively complicated – in addition to humans and bovines, more than 40 species of mammalians can serve as potential zoonotic reservoirs. Here, we caution that some factors – potential roles of other mammalian reservoirs and human movement in sustaining the transmission, low sensitivity/specificity of current diagnostic tools for infections, praziquantel treatment failures, changes in environmental and socio-economic factors such as flooding in key endemic areas - may pose great obstacles towards transmission interruption of the parasite. Assessing potential roles of these factors in the transmission and implications for current control strategies aiming at transmission interruption is needed.

Femur fracture is a type of fracture with high disability and mortality. There is no comprehensive analysis and prediction of the global distribution of femur fractures, so we conducted this study. Age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR), age-standardized prevalence rate (ASPR), and years living with disability (YLDs) of femur fractures (excluding femoral neck) were downloaded from the Global burden of disease database. Trend analysis was performed, and 6 time-series machine learning algorithms were applied to predict the global ASIR, ASPR, and YLDs. ASPR for femur fracture had been increasing in most countries worldwide from 1990 to 2019, with the highest in East Asia (AAPC = 1.25 95%Confidence Interval (1.2, 1.3)) and lowest in Central Latin America (AAPC = −0.74 95%CI (−0.81, −0.67)). However, ASIR showed a significant downward trend worldwide, with East Saharan Africa decreasing the most (AAPC = −4.04 95%CI (−5.56, −2.47)), and East Asia elevating the most (AAPC = 1.11 95%CI (0.87, 1.42)). YLDs were increasing over the world, with East Asia still elevating the most AAPC= (3.9 95%CI (3.85, 3.95)), with the only region of decrease being Eastern Europe (AAPC = −0.28 95%CI (−0.3, −0.26)). Both ASPR and ASIR were higher in women than in men in the >75 year group, whereas YLDs was lower in women than in men in the >60 year group. Globally, the ARIMA model was optimal in the prediction of ASPR, the PROPHET model effected in the prediction of ASIR, and the PROPHET WITH XGBOOST model was the best in the prediction of YLDs. The projections showed increase in both ASPR and YLDs, except for ASIR decreasing by 2030. Our study found a rise in femur fracture ASPR and ASIR from 1990 to 2019 in war conflict areas and East Asia, meanwhile, the YLDs of femur fracture increased in populous countries. In both 1990 and 2019, both ASPR and ASIR were higher in women over 75 years than that in men, but YLDs was higher in men over 60 years than that in women. In 2020–2030, while global femur fracture ASIR might decline, both ASPR and YLDs might rise. Femur fracture is a high-energy injury due to direct violence, and in war, conflicting and underdeveloped regions such as East Asia. Accidental injuries may occur due to the rapid development of industry and the frequent traffic accidents. This study suggests that we should focus on elderly women (≥75 years) in the above regions in the future. For older men (>60 years old), more attention should be paid to post-fracture functional rehabilitation and early reintegration into society to reduce the disability rate and lower the socio-economic burden.

In 2004 an aggressive plan was instituted aiming to achieve nationwide transmission control of schistosomiasis by 2015. Here, we report a longitudinal study on the control of schistosomiasis in Anhui province, China. Using a mathematical model, we compared the effects of different control strategies implemented in the study area. During the 5-year study period, a 60.8% reduction in human prevalence was observed from 2005 (7.95%) to 2009 (3.1%), and snail infection decreased from 0.063% in 2005 to zero in 2009. Results of the model agree well with the first 3-year field observations and suggest continuous decrease in human infections in the last 2 years, whereas the last 2-year field observations indicated that human infections appeared to be stable even with continuous control. Our findings showed that the integrated control strategy was effective, and we speculated that other factors besides bovines might contribute to the local transmission of the disease.