National Health and Family Planning Commission

About: National Health and Family Planning Commission is a government organization based out in Beijing, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Kashin–Beck disease. The organization has 2379 authors who have published 1440 publications receiving 20078 citations. The organization is also known as: Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China.

Sexual Risk Behaviors and HIV Infection among Men Who Have Sex with Men and Women in China: Evidence from a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract: Objectives. To understand the current risk of HIV infection and transmission and further elucidate the underlying risk factors among men who have sex with men and women (MSMW) in China. Methods. Following PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of searching through Chinese and English available literature databases between January 2000 and June 2014 to identify articles. Results. Thirty-six articles (including 19,730 MSMW and 53,536 MSMO) met the selection criteria and the aggregated results found that MSMW have significantly higher HIV prevalence than MSMO (6.6% versus 5.4%, OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.01–1.58). A higher proportion of MSMW had commercial male partners in the past 6 months (18.3% versus 12.2%, OR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.01–2.42). Additionally, substance use in the past 6 months was significantly more frequent among MSMW than MSMO (alcohol use: 27.1% versus 13.1%, OR = 2.53, 95% CI = 2.14–2.99; illicit drug use: 5.3% versus 2.5%, OR = 2.09, 95% CI = 1.48–2.95). Conclusion. A higher proportion of commercial sex and substance use among MSMW may be a potentially indicative factor for significantly higher HIV prevalence compared to MSMO. Targeted interventions should aim at increasing the frequency of HIV/STIs screening and preventing high risk commercial sex and substance use among MSMW to decrease their HIV transmission to the general population.

Identification and characterization of a novel HIV-1 circulating recombinant form (CRF59_01B) identified among men-who-have-sex-with-men in China.

Abstract: The HIV-1 epidemic among men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) continues to expand in China. A large-scale national survey we conducted on HIV-1 strains among MSM in 11 provinces in China from 2008 to 2013 (n = 920) identified a novel transmission cluster consisting of six strains (0.7%) that belonged to a new circulating recombinant form (designated CRF59_01B). CRF59_01B contains two subtype B segments of U.S.-European origin (in the pol and vpu-env regions) in a CRF01_AE backbone. CRF59_01B is the second CRF (after CRF55_01B) circulating primarily among MSM in China. CRF59_01B occurs at a low frequency (less than 1%), but it was detected in four different provinces/regions in China: Liaoning (northeast China) (n = 3); Hunan (central China) (n = 1); Guangdong (south China) (n = 1); Yunnan (southwest China) (n = 1). One additional recombinant strain was detected in a heterosexual individual in Liaoning province but is not the focus of this paper. Bayesian molecular clock analyses indicate that CRF59_01B emerged as a result of recombination between CRF01_AE and subtype B around the year 2001. The emergence of multiple forms of recombinants and CRFs reflects the ever-increasing contribution of homosexual transmission in China's HIV epidemic and indicates an active HIV transmission network among MSM in China.

Reduced GABAergic transmission in the ventrobasal thalamus contributes to thermal hyperalgesia in chronic inflammatory pain.

Abstract: The ventrobasal (VB) thalamus is innervated by GABAergic afferents from the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) and participates in nociception. But how the TRN-VB pathway regulates pain is not fully understood. In the present study, we reported decreased extracellular GABA levels in the VB of rats with CFA-induced chronic inflammatory pain, measured by microdialysis with HPLC analysis. In vitro whole-cell patch-clamp recording showed decreased amplitudes of tonic currents, increased frequencies of mIPSCs, and increased paired-pulse ratios in thalamic slices from chronic inflammatory rats (7 days). Microinjection of the GABAAR agonist muscimol and optogenetic activation of the TRN-VB pathway relieved thermal hyperalgesia in chronic inflammatory pain. By contrast, microinjecting the extrasynaptic GABAAR agonist THIP or selective knockout of synaptic GABAAR γ2 subunits aggravated thermal hyperalgesia in the chronic stage of inflammatory pain. Our findings indicate that reduced GABAergic transmission in the VB contributes to thermal hyperalgesia in chronic inflammatory pain, which could be a synaptic target for pharmacotherapy.