BackgroundZuo yuezi is the month postpartum in China associated with a variety of traditional beliefs and practices. We explored the current status of zuo yuezi from social, cultural and western medical perspectives.MethodsWe interviewed family members (36) and health workers (8) in Fujian Province, selecting one rural and one rapidly developing urban county. We asked about their traditional beliefs and their behaviour postpartum. We used a framework approach to identify main themes. We categorised reported behaviour against their probable effects on health, drawing on Western standards.ResultsRespondents reported that zuo yuezi was commonly practiced in urban and rural families to help the mother regain her strength and protect her future health. Zuo yuezi included: dietary precautions, such as eating more food and avoiding cold food; behavioural precautions, such as staying inside the home, avoiding housework and limiting visitors; hygiene precautions, such as restricting bathing and dental hygiene; and practices associated with infant feeding, including supplementary feeding and giving honeysuckle herb to the infant. Respondents reported that the main reasons for adhering to these practices were respect for tradition, and following the advice of elders. Categorised against Western medical standards, several zuo yuezi practices are beneficial, including eating more, eating protein rich food, avoiding housework, and daily vulval and perineal hygiene. A few are potentially harmful, including giving honeysuckle herb, and avoiding dental hygiene. Some women reported giving infants supplementary feeds, although zuo yuezi emphasises breast feeding.ConclusionZuo yuezi is an important ritual in Fujian. In medical terms, most practices are beneficial, and could be used by health staff to promote health in this period. Further research on reported potentially harmful practices, such as supplements to breast feeding, is needed.

Background Eliminating malaria and preventing re-establishment of malaria transmission in border areas requires universal coverage of malaria surveillance and a rapid response to any threats (i.e. malaria cues) of re-establishing transmission. Main text Strategy 1: Intensive interventions within 2.5 km-wide perimeter along the border to prevent border-spill malaria. The area within 2.5 km along the international border is the travel radius of anopheline mosquitoes. Comprehensive interventions should include: (1) proactive and passive case detection, (2) intensive vector surveillance, (3) evidence-based vector control, and (4) evidence-based preventative treatment with anti-malarial drugs. Strategy 2: Community-based malaria detection and screening of migrants and travellers in frontier townships. Un-permitted travellers cross borders frequently and present in frontier townships. Maintenance of intensified malaria surveillance should include: (1) passive malaria detection in the township hospitals, (2) seek assistance from villager leaders and health workers to monitor cross border travellers, and refer febrile patients to the township hospitals and (3) the county’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention maintain regular proactive case detection. Strategy 3: Universal coverage of malaria surveillance to detect malaria cues. Passive detection should be consolidated into the normal health service. Health services personnel should remain vigilant to ensure universal coverage of malaria detection and react promptly to any malaria cues. Strategy + 1: Strong collaborative support with neighbouring countries. Based on the agreement between the two countries, integrated control strategies should be carried out to reduce malaria burden for both countries. There should be a clear focus on the border areas between neighbouring countries. Conclusion The 3 + 1 strategy is an experience summary of border malaria control and elimination, and then contributed to malaria elimination in Yunnan’s border areas, China. Nevertheless, Yunnan still has remaining challenges of re-establishment of malaria transmission in the border areas, and the 3 + 1 strategy should still be carried out.

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As an important vegetable crop of the legume family, cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) is grown widely for its tender pod with good taste and nutrition. The purple cowpea pods attract more attention mainly for the eye-catching color and healthpromoting ingredients. Initially, large quantities of two major anthocyanins (delphinidin 3-O-glucoside and cyanidin 3-O-glucoside) and nine kinds of flavonoids (most are quercetin-based flavonol glycosides) were separated and identified from purple cowpea pod by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry. To study them systematically, two representative cowpea cultivars with a drastic difference in anthocyanin accumulation were further analyzed by the integration of metabolomics and transcriptomics. A total of 56 differentially accumulated metabolites and 4142 differentially expressed genes were identified, respectively. On the basis of the comprehensive analysis of multiomic data, it was shown that VuMYB90-1, VuMYB90-2, VuMYB90-3, VuCPC, VuMYB4, and endogenous bHLH and WD40 proteins coordinately control anthocyanin and flavonoid accumulation via transcriptional regulation of structural genes in purple cowpea pod.

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