Low Development Index Research Articles

Indications for transfusion of blood components

Indications for transfusion of blood components

Injecting risk behaviours amongst people who inject drugs: A global multi-stage systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundInjecting risk behaviour, such as receptive sharing of injecting equipment and/or re-using one's equipment, is associated with bloodborne virus transmission and infections in people who inject drugs (PWID). We aimed to estimate prevalence and correlates of injecting risk behaviours amongst PWID. MethodsWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analyses to estimate country, regional, and global prevalences of injecting risk behaviours (including sharing or re-using needle/syringe and sharing other injecting equipment). Using meta-regression analyses, we determined associations between study- and country-level characteristics and receptive needle/syringe sharing. ResultsFrom 61,077 identified papers and reports and 61 studies from expert consutation, evidence on injecting risk behaviours was available for 464 studies from 88 countries. Globally, it is estimated that 17.9% (95%CI: 16.2–19.6%) of PWID engaged in receptive needle/syringe sharing at last injection, 23.9% (95%CI: 21.2–26.5%) in the past month, and 32.8% (95%CI: 28.6–37.0%) in the past 6–12 months. Receptive sharing of other injecting equipment was common. Higher prevalence of receptive needle/syringe sharing in the previous month was associated with samples of PWID with a lower proportion of females, shorter average injecting duration, a higher proportion with ≥daily injecting, and older studies. Countries with lower development index, higher gender inequality and lower NSP coverage had higher proportions reporting receptive needle/syringe sharing. ConclusionsHigh levels of injecting risk behaviours were observed amongst PWID globally, although estimates were only available for half of the countries with evidence of injecting drug use. There is a need for better capturing of injecting risk behaviours in these countries to inform implementation of harm reduction services and evaluate potential impacts of interventions to reduce risk.

Bacterial meningitis: a density-equalizing mapping analysis of the global research architecture.

Bacterial meningitis is caused by a variety of pathogens and displays an important public health threat all over the world. Despite the necessity to develop customized public health-related research projects, a thorough study of global meningitis research is not present, so far. Therefore, the aim of this study was a combined density-equalizing and scientometric study. To evaluate the scientific efforts of bibliometric methods, density-equalizing algorithms and large-scale data analysis of the Web of Science were applied in the period between 1900 and 2007. From this, 7998 publications on bacterial meningitis have been found. With a number of 2698, most publications have been written by U.S. authors, followed by the UK (912), Germany (749) and France (620). This dominance can also be shown in the international cooperation. The specific citation analyses reveal that the nation with the highest average citation rate (citations per publications) was Norway (26.36), followed by Finland (24.16) and the U.S. (24.06). This study illustrates the architecture of global research on bacterial meningitis and points to the need for customized research programs with a focus on local public health issues in countries with a low development index, but high incidences, to target this global public health problem.

Social indicators are predictors of airborne outdoor exposures in Berlin

Exposure by airborne pollutants adversely affects human health and well-being. Particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides (NOX, NO2) are two of the most important airborne pollutants in Germany. Epidemiological studies found that these pollutants significantly increase morbidity and mortality by cardiovascular, respiratory and other diseases. Inner-urban differences of human exposure are often higher than mean differences between cities. Therefore it is necessary to investigate the inner-urban spatial distributions of human exposures. Additionally the question arises if the social situation of population is also related to airborne outdoor exposures.On the example of Berlin the spatial distribution of airborne exposures of PM2.5 and NO2 was determined for the 447 Berlin planning areas (PLAs), each characterized by about 7500 inhabitants, rather unique structure of buildings, big roads, and certain social structure. In this study we also investigated the combined exposure by PM2.5 and NO2. Because both types of air pollutants are traffic related, traffic parameters were included into the assessment.In order to investigate the socio-spatial distribution of PM2.5 and NO2 at the planning area level the air pollution was statistically and spatially correlated with the development index of the Berlin Social Urban Development Monitoring and other social indices. Generally, but also in Berlin, there exists a strong tendency that decreasing social indicators are related to increasing human exposures. About 10% of Berlin's population live in PLAs with a very low or low development index and with very high or high air pollution levels and thus are discriminated twice. The lower the development index in a PLA, the higher is the share of population exposed to high air pollution and vice versa.

Immunophenotypic analysis of erythroid dysplasia and its diagnostic application in myelodysplastic syndromes

Abnormal immunophenotypes of haematopoietic cells in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) have been identified by flow cytometry (FCM) as a typical characteristic of myeloid dysplasia. Considering that most MDS patients show varying degrees of erythroid dysplasia, we analysed the immunophenotypic feature of erythroblasts to evaluate its diagnostic application in MDS. Erythroid antigens CD71 and CD105 expression were analysed using FCM. The development index (DI) acquired by log transformation of the CD71/CD105 expression ratio was used to denote the erythroid maturation and distinguish patients with non-clonal cytopenias from low-risk MDS. The diagnostic quality of DI in distinguishing MDS from non-clonal cytopenia patients was evaluated using the receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve. Under-expression of CD71 and over-expression of CD105 were detected in erythroblasts of MDS patients compared with non-clonal cytopenias. The diagnostic test showed good diagnostic power that the area under the ROC curve was greater than 0.9. The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 75.6% and 92.3%, respectively, according to the DI threshold defined by the ROC curve in low-risk MDS patients with normal karyotypes. Moreover, the DI showed a positive correlation with the haemoglobin level, and the MDS patients with lower DI usually showed frequent red cell transfusion. The patients with a lower DI generally had the HLA-DR15 allele or marrow hypocellularity. Developmental defects and immune-associated factors may contribute to the erythroid dysplasia. The DI derived from ratios of CD71 and CD105 expression is a useful marker to characterise dyserythropioiesis associated with MDS and can be helpful in distinguishing it from dyerythropoiesis associated with non-clonal disorders.

On the Laws and Causes of Socio-economic Territorial Differentiation in Minority Areas in China

Abstract On the basis of applying quantitative and qualitative approaches as well as GIS technology, this paper established an index system to make a comprehensive evaluation on socioeconomic development of minority areas in China. The result showed that socio-economic development in minority area presents a series of characteristics that the north is high and the south is low, center-margin pattern is obvious and the areas with middle and lower development indices are distributed centrally and continuously. However, the causes of the socioeconomic characteristics mainly include natural conditions, economic development basic, population cultural quality, regional combination and development conditions of mineral and energy resources, informal institutional factors and distribution of major traffic lines.

Partnerships for blood safety in Africa: the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

Partnerships for blood safety in Africa: the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief