Zhuang Minority Research Articles

A Multimodal Approach to Zhuang-English Translation of the Baeu Rodo Scriptures

The Beu Rodo scriptures are texts sung by boumo, a Zhuang ritual priest at rites. They reflect the primitive belief of the ancient forebears of the Zhuang group in China. As a scriptural heritage of the Zhuang minority nationality, the scriptures have become a significant cultural carrier in the English world through translations. Based on the published English translations, this paper analyzes the combined use of verbal and visual modes in translating the Baeu Rodo scriptures into English. David Holm’s Recalling Lost Souls is under examination as a case study. Theories of multimodal discourse analysis and intersemiotic translation give guidance for examination and discussion. First, the authors bring under examination how verbal and visual modes interacted to produce Recalling Lost Souls, an example of multimodal translation; then they move on to discuss how the translator managed to realize the representational, interactive, and compositional meanings in a multimodal whole. It is concluded that linguistic and non-linguistic modes can work together to produce a multimodal translation, a workable approach to Z-E translation of the Baeu Rodo scriptures leading to higher readability of their translated works in the English world.

Associations of dietary, sociodemographic, and anthropometric factors with anemia among the Zhuang ethnic adults: a cross-sectional study in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

BackgroundAfter decades of rapid economic development, anemia remains a significant public health challenge globally. This study aimed to estimate the associations of sociodemographic, dietary, and body composition factors with anemia among the Zhuang in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China.MethodsOur study population from the baseline survey of the Guangxi ethnic minority Cohort Study of Chronic Diseases consisted of 13,465 adults (6,779 women and 6,686 men) aged 24–82 years. A validated interviewer-administered laptop-based questionnaire system was used to collect information on participants’ sociodemographic, lifestyle, and dietary factors. Each participant underwent a physical examination, and hematological indices were measured. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was used to select the variables, and logistic regression was applied to estimate the associations of independent risk factors with anemia.ResultsThe overall prevalences of anemia in men and women were 9.63% (95% CI: 8.94–10.36%) and 18.33% (95% CI: 17.42─19.28%), respectively. LASSO and logistic regression analyses showed that age was positively associated with anemia for both women and men. For diet in women, red meat consumption for 5–7 days/week (OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.65–0.98, p = 0.0290) and corn/sweet potato consumption for 5–7 days/week (OR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.55–0.96, p = 0.0281) were negatively associated with anemia. For men, fruit consumption for 5–7 days/week (OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.60–0.94, p = 0.0130) and corn/sweet potato consumption for 5–7 days/week (OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.46–0.91, p = 0.0136) were negatively correlated with anemia. Compared with a normal body water percentage (55–65%), a body water percentage below normal (< 55%) was negatively related to anemia (OR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.53–0.86, p = 0.0014). Conversely, a body water percentage above normal (> 65%) was positively correlated with anemia in men (OR = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.38–2.17, p < 0.0001).ConclusionsAnemia remains a moderate public health problem for premenopausal women and the elderly population in the Guangxi Zhuang minority region. The prevention of anemia at the population level requires multifaceted intervention measures according to sex and age, with a focus on dietary factors and the control of body composition.

Authenticating ‘mother tongue’ in a multilingual minority community

ABSTRACT This study examines mother tongue in a multilingual region which includes a national language, a recognised ethnic minority language, and multiple other minority languages (including so-called ‘dialects’) and English. We probe into practices and perceptions of one designated ethnic minority group in China across domains of family, community and education through a process of authentication. Drawing on a questionnaire of 576 students with local, multilingual education experience and interviews with 48 students of the Zhuang minority group, we examine the intersubjectivities of language, ethnicity and Chineseness. The findings highlight an unwavering affirmation of Putonghua (PTH) dominance as central to Chineseness along with wavering support of Zhuang and other minority languages or dialects as linked to ethnicity and regional identity. Crucially, our data show that the policies and ideologies around recognised minority languages can make it difficult for speakers to name or claim their ‘mother tongue’. The analyses suggest that ‘mother tongue’ is a misnomer in many ways as it is not primordial, matrilineal or geneological but is based in (primarily monolingual) ideologies which do not adequately represent multilingual individuals and communities. We propose a conceptual framework to expand our understanding of the authentication of mother tongue and the resilience of minority/minoritised language, problematised by monolingual ideologies.

High prevalence of hyperuricemia and the association with metabolic syndrome in the rural areas of Southwestern China: A structural equation modeling based on the Zhuang minority cohort

Background and aimsThe prevalence of hyperuricemia (HUA) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in the Zhuang minority had not been examined. We aimed to determine the prevalence of HUA and MetS, and explore the interrelationship among the serum uric acid to creatinine (SUA/Cr) ratio, MetS, and its components. Methods and resultsA cross-sectional study was conducted with structured questionnaire and physical examination based on the Zhuang minority cohort. A Structural Equation Model was performed to examine the hypothesis link between the SUA/Cr ratio, MetS, and its components. 10,902 aged 35–74 years Zhuang minority adults were included. The total prevalence of HUA and MetS was 17.5% and 23.7%, respectively. The SUA/Cr ratio had a positive effect on MetS (the standardized coefficient βr was 0.311 in males and 0.401 in females). The SUA/Cr ratio was positively associated with obesity (βr = 0.215), dyslipidemia (βr = 0.177), and high blood pressure (βr = 0.034) in males and was positively associated with obesity (βr = 0.303), dyslipidemia (βr = 0.162), and hyperglycemia (βr = 0.036) in females. ConclusionsThe prevalence of HUA in the aged 35–74 years Zhuang minority adults was high while the prevalence of MetS was relatively low. As HUA is an earlier-onset metabolic disorder and the SUA/Cr ratio had a positive effect on MetS and its components, the prevention measures of MetS should be strengthened. And the SUA/Cr ratio can be used as an early warning sign to implement the intervention measures of MetS.

High Prevalence of Hyperuricemia and Associated Factors among Zhuang Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study Based on the Ethnic Minority Population Cohort in the Southwestern China

The highest prevalence of hyperuricemia was found in Zhuang minority adults in two national surveys in China, with only 1% Zhuang study subjects. However, the prevalence of hyperuricemia and the associated factors in Zhuang adults have not been well-addressed. A cross-sectional study was conducted to explore the prevalence of hyperuricemia and the common comorbidities, and the associated factors in Zhuang adults based on the Guangxi Ethnic Minority Population Cohort. Among 11,175 Zhuang adults aged 35-74 years, the age- and sex-standardized prevalence rate was 18.1% for hyperuricemia and 1.1% for gout. The standardized prevalence rate and awareness rate were 31.6% and 32.3%, respectively, for hypertension, and were 5.1% and 48.2%, respectively, for diabetes. High education level, history of coronary heart disease (CHD), hypertension, being a current drinker, high body mass index (BMI), central obesity, hyper-triglyceride (hyper-TG), hyper-total cholesterol (hyper-TC), hypo-high density lipoprotein cholesterol (hypo-HDL-C), and abnormal aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were risk factors, while smoking and diabetes were protective factors of hyperuricemia in males. Older age, being single/divorced, having a high education level, hypertension, drinking tea, high BMI, central obesity, hyper-TG, hyper-TC, hypo-HDL-C, and abnormal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were risk factors in females. The high prevalence of hyperuricemia but low prevalence of gout and common comorbidities in Zhuang adults may be due to a lag effect of lifestyle changes. Health education and health management should be strengthened to prevent the progression of comorbidities, considering the lag effect and low awareness rate.

Earf-YOLO: An Efficient Attention Receptive Field Model for Recognizing Symbols of Zhuang Minority Patterns

As for recognizing Zhuang minority pattern symbols, current recognition models often cause high computational overhead and low accuracy since Zhuang minority pattern symbols have large feature vectors and some complex features. In this paper, we present the efficient attention receptive field you only look once (Earf-YOLO), a new scheme to address those problems. Firstly, a global-local-transformer (GLocalT) structure is proposed, through which other control systems are introduced into the axial self-attention module, and global-local training strategies are also designed. The structure can use other control systems to compensate for the lost feature information along the height, width, and channel axes. The global-local training strategy can encode long-term dependencies between features and reduce local information loss, fully illustrating that the structure has high feature expression ability. Besides, strength receptive field block (SRFB) is suggested to use the dilated convolution to control the receptive field’s eccentricity and enrich the feature information of the receptive field during its training. With more branches, it can better extract multiscale features, enrich the feature space of the convolution block, and reparametrize multibranch during prediction to fuse them into the main branch, all of which contribute to the improvement of the model performance. Finally, some advanced training techniques are adopted to enhance the detection effect further. In the end, comparative experiments are conducted on the datasets of Zhuang pattern symbols and PASCAL VOC, whose results indicate that the AP and FPS of the suggested model reach their highest values, manifesting its high efficiency.

Cultural Memories and Translations of Zhuang Liao Songs

Rooted in ancient Zhuang civilization with unique lyrics and tones, Zhuang Liao Songs have described Zhuang people’s life and work for generations. As the collective cultural memory of the Zhuang minority, Liao Songs have great values in literature, arts, history, folklore, and culture. They were listed in Chinese National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008, with their multi-functions of moralizing ideologies, edifying virtues, regulating behavior, and boosting the local economy. The integrative study of memory and its translation has received increasing attention from researchers of intangible cultural heritage. This paper aims to analyze the cultural memory of Zhuang Liao Songs and their intra-lingual and inter-lingual translations for the acceptability and accuracy of English translation in the era of “excellent Chinese culture going out”; to ensure the high-quality translation and dissemination of Zhuang Liao Songs.

Perceptions of invisible Zhuang minority language in Linguistic Landscapes of the People’s Republic of China and implications for language policy

Abstract The article presents data from a 2013–2019 ethnography of Zhuang language policy to support an analysis of implications for language policy research and scholarship of findings about the (in)visibility of publicly displayed Zhuang. The analysis challenges core assumptions of language policy-making, advocacy and scholarship and explicates the general implications of this challenge beyond China, particularly for minority languages. The most important assumption that this article interrogates is that a written language on display will be recognised as that language by its speakers. Further, it argues that literacy, script, and other language policies impact on display policies and must work together; they do not in the Zhuang case. In making a case for language policy informed by ethnographic research, this article reviews the foundations of socially-situated analyses of Linguistic Landscapes. To galvanise further such research and articulate it to policy-makers, the article employs the term ‘lived landscape approach’.

Detection of Ethnic Minority’s Symbols Based on Deep Learning

Symbols are the embodiments of the ideology of ethnic minorities, the detection of ethnic minority’s symbols is an important part of the protection and inheritance of ethnic cultural heritage. Nevertheless, the ethnic symbols are miscellaneous and referred to some special combination style, it is time-consuming and inaccurate to detect them only by traditional detection methods based on machine learning. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a deep learning method based on Faster R-CNN to detect various kinds of Zhuang minority’s symbols from the Z-S dataset. Firstly, the original images of Zhuang minority’s symbols are prepocessed. Secondly, the processed images are sent to the ResNet-50 with FPN to extract feature maps. Moreover, RPN processes those feature maps to generate bounding boxes. Finally, ROI pooling layer in R-CNN converts those bounding boxes into fixed-length feature vectors, which fed into two sibling fully-connected layers for further detection tasks. Through the ablation experiments based on a certain amount of ethnic symbol images, the results indicate that the proposed method has higher detection quality (mAP), and can effectively reduce the training cost.

Effect of medicated thread moxibustion of Chinese Zhuang Minority medicine on colonic inflammatory impairment and Th17/IL-17F signaling in rats with ulcerative colitis

To observe the effect of medicated thread moxibustion of Zhuang Minority medicine on helper T cell 17 (Th17)/ Interleukin-17F(IL-17F) signaling pathway in ulcerative colitis (UC) rats, so as to explore its mechanisms underlying improvement of UC. Forty male SD rats were randomly divided into normal control, model, medication and medicated thread moxibustion (MTM) groups, with 10 rats in each group. The UC model was induced by free drinking of 4% dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) for 10 d. After successful modeling, rats of the medication group were treated by gavage of salazosulfapyridine (SASP). Medicated thread moxibustion was applied to unilateral "Tianshu" (ST25) and "Qihai" (CV6) alternatively for rats of the MTM group, once daily for 14 d. The body mass, stool shape, and fecal occult test were recorded and conducted daily to perform disease activity index (DAI) score. H．E. staining was used to display pathological changes of the colon tissue. The Th17 cells and IL-17F and retinoic acid related orphan receptor γ t (ROR-γt) in the colon tissue were detected by flow cytometry, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), respectively, and the expression levels of RORγt and IL-17F mRNA in colon tissue were detected by quantitive real-time PCR. After modeling, the DAI score, colonic Th17 percentage, RORγt and IL-17F contents, and RORγt and IL-17F mRNA expression were significantly increased in the model group in contrast to the normal control group (P<0.01, P<0.05). Following the intervention, all the aforementioned indexes were reversed in both medication and MTM groups (P<0.01, P<0.05). No significant differences were found between the medication and MTM groups in the levels of the above mentioned indexes (P>0.05, except RORγt and IL-17F mRNA expression). H．E. staining showed disappearance of goblet cells, infiltration of a large number of inflammatory cells, exfoliation of the epithelial tissue and edema of colonic mucosal in rats of the model group, which was relatively milder in both medication and MTM groups. Medicated thread moxibustion of Zhuang Minority medicine can reduce the inflammatory damage of colon tissue in UC rats, which is associated with its effects in suppressing the expression of RORγt, production of Th17 cells, and secretion of pro-inflammatory factor IL-17F in colon tissue.

A novel mutation of the ITGB2 gene in a Chinese Zhuang minority patient with leukocyte adhesion deficiency type 1 and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency

ObjectivesTo explore the clinical and molecular characteristics of a Chinese Zhuang minority patient with leukocyte adhesion deficiency type-1 (LAD-1) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PDD). MethodsRoutine clinical and physical examinations were performed, and patient data was collected and analyzed. Protein expression levels of Itgb2 and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6pd) proteins were assessed by flow cytometry and the glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) substrate method, respectively. Whole exome sequencing was performed to investigate genetic variations of the patient and his parents. ResultsThe patient had fester disease and delayed separation of the umbilical cord at birth. Staphylococcus was detected in the fluid secretion of the auditory meatus of the patient. He exhibited a recurrent cheek scab, swollen hand, and swollen gum. Hematological examination indicated dramatic elevation of leukocytes including lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils and eosinophils. A novel homozygous mutation was detected in the ITGB2 gene of the patient, which was determined to be a two nucleotide deletion at the site of c.1537–1538 (c.1537–1538delGT), causing a frameshift of 24 amino acids from p.513 and inducing a stop codon (p.V513Lfs*24). A base substitution mutation was identified at c.1466 (c.1466G>T) of G6PD on chromosome X of the patient, which resulted in an amino acid change from arginine to leucine at p.489 (p.R489L). The patient also showed deficient lymphocyte expression of CD18 (2.99%) and significant downregulation of the G6pd protein. ConclusionsThe patient was diagnosed with G6PDD and moderate LAD-1. The combination of LAD-1 and G6PDD in this case may have been due to the high incidence of genetic disease in this minority ethnic population. Analyzing existing LAD-1 and G6PDD cases from different populations can facilitate disease diagnosis and treatment. Particularly, reporting pathogenic mutations of LAD-1 and G6PDD will be crucial for genetic testing and prenatal diagnosis in an effort to decrease the incidence of these diseases.

A polity study of minority language management in China focusing on Zhuang

ABSTRACTThis polity study is about the language policy situation in the People’s Republic of China (China) with a focus on one official minority language, Zhuang. The paper offers an examination of the language policy and planning (LPP) framework nationally as it relates to official minority languages, and regionally as it relates to the Zhuang minority language. It incorporates technical law and policy data but also data and analysis on the ‘sociolinguistic realities “on the ground”’ [Freeland, J., & Patrick, D. (2004). Language rights and language survival: Sociolinguistic and sociocultural perspectives. In J. Freeland & D. Patrick (Eds.), Language rights and language survival (pp. 1–33). Manchester: St Jerome Publishing, p. 1]. The paper covers the current sociolinguistic state of Zhuang and its speakers; historical developments in Zhuang language spread, planning and policy; and the central role in Zhuang language management of an official polity, the Zhuangzu, founded to represent Zhuang speakers’ interests. The paper is founded on an ethnographically oriented study of interpretations and practices of Zhuang LPP. In analysing the structures and processes of the Zhuang LPP framework, the paper draws out operational limits and policy discontinuities as well as language ideological tensions and other socially situated problems in Zhuang LPP. Many of these will be relevant to LPP studies of other minority languages in China, and potentially elsewhere.

Daoist Ritual Manuals in Vietnam: Activating Stars and Trigrams

This paper examines visual representations—charts, talismans and drawings—in Daoist ritual manuals from the collection of approximately 200 Chinese-language manuscripts originating from the Sino-Vietnamese borderland and, supposedly, belonging to ritual specialists of Zhuang and Yao ethnic minority groups (now stored in private collection in Taiwan), dates on several manuscripts show that these copies were made in the first half of the 20th century in Vietnam, manuscripts served for the needs of living and deceased members of rural community. Visual representations either serve as “instructions” to be followed by officiating priest, or as representations of ritual action per se.

Genetic polymorphism of 23 Y-STR loci in the Zhuang minority population in Guangxi of China.

In the present study, 23 Y-STR loci (DYS576, DYS389I, DYS389 II, DYS448, DYS19, DYS391, DYS481, DYS549, DYS533, DYS438, DYS437, DYS570, DYS635, DYS390, DYS439, DYS392, DYS393, DYS458 DYS456, DYS643, YGATAH4, and DYS385ab) were investigated in 266 unrelated, healthy autochthonous individuals from the Zhuang minority population residing in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. One hundred and eighty-nine alleles and 245 haplotypes were found in the Zhuang group. Two hundred and twenty-four haplotypes among them were unique, and the remaining 21 haplotypes were found in two individuals. Discrimination capacity was 0.9211. Haplotype diversity was 0.9993 and gene diversity ranged from 0.4173 (DYS437) to 0.9678 (DYS385ab). Populations' differentia was calculated and compared with Tibetan, Bai, Dai, Minnan Han, Beijing Han, Chengdu Han, Xuanwei Han, and Southern Han ethnic groups in China, the Singapore Han population, and the Kinh group from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in the same 23 Y-STR loci. Our results showed that these 23 Y-STRs are highly genetically polymorphic in the Zhuang group and can also enrich Chinese ethnic genetic information.

Genetic heterogeneity of the β-globin gene in various geographic populations of Yunnan in southwestern China.

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate the geographic distribution of β-globin gene mutations in different ethnic groups in Yunnan province.MethodsFrom 2004 to 2014, 1,441 subjects with hemoglobin disorders, identified by PCR-reverse dot blot and DNA sequencing, were studied according to ethnicity and geographic origin. Haplotypes were examined among 41 unrelated thalassemia chromosomes.ResultsEighteen β-thalassemia mutations and seven hemoglobin variants were identified for 1,616 alleles in 22 different ethnic groups from all 16 prefecture-level divisions of Yunnan. The prevalence of β-thalassemia was heterogeneous and regionally specific. CD 41-42 (-TCTT) was the most prevalent mutation in the populations of northeastern Yunnan. CD 17 (A>T) was the most common mutation in the populations of southeastern Yunnan, especially for the Zhuang minority, whereas Hb E (CD 26, G>A) was the most prevalent mutation in populations of southwestern Yunnan, especially for the Dai minority. Among the seven types of haplotypes identified, CD 17 (A>T) was mainly linked to haplotype VII (+ - - - - - +) and IVS-II-654 (C>T) was only linked to haplotype I (+ - - - - + +).ConclusionOur data underline the heterogeneity of β-globin gene mutations in Yunnan. This distribution of β-globin mutations in the geographic regions and ethnic populations provided a detailed ethnic basis and evolutionary view of humans in southern China, which will be beneficial for genetic counseling and prevention strategies.

A Corpus-Based Study on the Influence of Ethnic Language on Zhuang English Learners in China

This study built a rare kind of interlanguage corpus of English compositions from middle school students of Zhuang ethnic group, exploring language transfer on English writing output of the students from their mother-tongue—Zhuang. Another interlanguage corpus is used as the reference corpus with English compositions by Chinese students of non-specific ethnic identity (but assumedly of Han majority) using Chinese as their mother tongue. Through comparison between the self-built Zhuang-Chinese-English learners’ corpus and Chinese-English learners’ one, this study found that not only are there distinctive differences between the spelling, negation, and auxiliary errors in English writing of Zhuang minority and Han majority students, but also mother-tongue transfer and training transfer have influence on Zhuang students’ English output.

Analysis of an "off-ladder" allele at the Penta D short tandem repeat locus.

Kinship testing of a father and his son from Guangxi, China, the location of the Zhuang minority people, was performed using the PowerPlex® 18D System with a short tandem repeat typing kit. The results indicated that both the father and his son had an off-ladder allele at the Penta D locus, with a genetic size larger than that of the maximal standard allelic ladder. To further identify this locus, monogenic amplification, gene cloning, and genetic sequencing were performed. Sequencing analysis demonstrated that the fragment size of the Penta D-OL locus was 469 bp and the core sequence was [AAAGA]21, also called Penta D-21. The rare Penta D-21 allele was found to be distributed among the Zhuang population from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China; therefore, this study improved the range of DNA data available for this locus and enhanced our ability for individual identification of gene loci.

Preliminary investigation on the materia medica of the Zhuang ethnic group

By Zhuang materia medica, it refers to application of medicines under the instructions of medical theory of Zhuang ethnic group. By studying the pronunciation of the Zhuang language for the terms "zhu yu", "bai jiu", and "mi gu" included in the shan hai jing nan shan jing (The Classic of Southern Mountain in Classic of Seas and Mountains) carried out by the Zhuang scholar Qin Bao-lin, it was concluded that the Zhuang minority already applied medicines early in the pre-Qin period. Through extensive cultural communication in different regions in the Wei-Jin-Southern-Northern Dynasties, the medicinal experiences of the Zhuang ethnic group appeared in ancient literature. The antidotes in Zhou hou fang (Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergency), for instance, were mostly coming from the Southern Ridge area. Since the Sui-Tang Dynasties, many materia medica recorded in the herbal works and regional gazetteers, and Annals such as the Guangxi Annals, Gazetteer of Nanning County, and Gazetteer of Liuzhou County, Gazetteer of Binzhou County etc., also carry medicines such as Cinnamom twigs and bark, and mangosteen etc., which are similar to those of the Zhuang medicines. In the Republican period, many manuscripts of Zhuang medicines appeared. After 1949, many institutions of Zhuang medicine were set up successively, including The Nanning Medical Institute, The Medical Institute of Wuzhou, The Medical Institute of Guilin. Systematic researches were also done, with publication of a series of works on Zhuang materia medica. Reformation of part of the prescription forms of Zhuang medicine were also accomplished.

Evaluation of Genetic Susceptibility Loci for Chronic Hepatitis B in Chinese: Two Independent Case-Control Studies

BackgroundA recent genome-wide scan has identified two genetic variants in the HLA-DP region strongly associated with hepatitis B infection in Japanese. This study evaluates the effects of these risk variants in Chinese, where the HBV infection is the most popular in the world.Methods and FindingsWe have assessed the relationship between these two single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs3077 and rs9277535) and chronic hepatitis B infection in two independent case-control studies. The first population in Chinese Han included 736 patients and 782 spontaneously recovered controls. The second set was established in Chinese Zhuang minority of 177 patients and 208 controls. Both A alleles of rs3077 and rs9277535 significantly deceased the risk to CHB in Chinese Han (OR = 0.540, 95%CI: 0.464–0.628, P = 4.068×10−16 and OR = 0.696, 95%CI: 0.601–0.806, P = 1.062×10−6, respectively). Conceivably, rs9277535 was found to be associated with decreased risk of the disease in Chinese Zhuang, with an OR of 0.606 (95%CI, 0.441–0.833, P = 0.002).ConclusionChronic hepatitis B susceptibility loci in HLA-DP region (rs3077 and rs9277535) identified by genome-wide scan in Japanese population were validated in Chinese population. These findings might provide clues to develop screening and surveillance strategies.

Genetic polymorphism of 17 Y-STR loci in four minority populations in Guangxi of China

To investigate the genetic polymorphism of Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (STR) loci in Jing, Yi, Yao, and Zhuang minority populations from Guangxi Province, China. 17 Y-STR loci were co-amplified using AmpFlSTR(R) Yfiler PCR Amplification Kit System, and the PCR products were analyzed by genetic analyzer. Cluster and phylogenic tree analyses were conducted to show the genetic distance among the populations. There were 61 different haplotypes in 100 unrelated Yao males, 67 in 105 unrelated Yi males, 79 in 103 unrelated Jing males, and 91 in 107 unrelated Zhuang males. The haplotype diversities of Jing, Yi, Yao and Zhuang were determined as 0.9784, 0.9866, 0.9911, and 0.9956, respectively. Among these 4 minority populations, the genetic distance between Jing and Zhuang was the smallest (0.0391), while the genetic distance between Yi and Yao was the largest (0.3376). The 17 Y-STR loci in the 4 minority populations from Guangxi Province revealed a highly polymorphic genetic distribution, which show a high potential for population genetics and forensic practice.