Objectives: We aimed to (1) assess parental hesitancy about category A (Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI)) and B (non-EPI) vaccines, (2) assess parental willingness for COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations, and (3) explore the association of vaccination hesitancy of parents and healthcare workers (HCWs). Methods: The study was performed in Wuxi, eastern China between 21 September 2020 and 17 October 2020. Parents of children aged <18 years and HCWs were recruited from the selected immunization clinics. Vaccine hesitancy was assessed using the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) vaccine hesitancy survey (VHS) by summing the total score for 10 items (maximum 50 points). Results: A total of 3009 parents and 86 HCWs were included in the analysis. The category A VHS scores were significantly higher than the category B VHS scores (p = 0.000). Overall, 59.3% and 52.4% of parents reported willingness to avail COVID-19 and influenza vaccination for their children, respectively; 51.2% of the HCWs wanted to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Parental category B VHS scores were associated with HCW category B VHS scores (r = 0.928, p = 0.008). Conclusions: In China, parents are more hesitant about category B vaccines than category A vaccines. More than 40% of parents showed hesitancy and a refusal to use COVID-19 and influenza vaccines.

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Norovirus (NoV) is a major cause of sporadic cases and outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis (AGE), thereby imposing threat to health globally. It is unclear how quantitation of wastewater NoV reflects the incidence of human AGE infections; therefore, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis of published NoV wastewater surveillance studies. A literature search was performed, and all studies on NoV wastewater surveillance were identified. Quantitative results were evaluated. The results showed that the overall detection rate of NoV in wastewater was 82.10% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 74.22–89.92%); NoV concentration was statistically significant in terms of season ( P < 0.001), with higher concentration in spring and winter. There were positive correlations between NoV GII concentration in wastewater and GII AGE cases ( r s = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.18–0.74, I 2 = 0%), total AGE cases ( r s = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.15–0.61, I 2 = 23%) and NoV outbreaks ( r s = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.30–0.62, I 2 = 0%). Results of cross-correlation analysis of partial data indicated that variations in GII concentration were consistent with or ahead of those in the number of AGE cases. The diversity of NoV genotypes in wastewater was elucidated, and the dominant strains in wastewater showed a consistent temporal distribution with those responsible for human AGE. Our study demonstrated the potential association of NoV detected in wastewater with AGE infections, and further studies are needed to confirm this conclusion. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-021-18202-x.

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Mn-doped cubic GaN films were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (001) substrates. There was a strong influence of the Ga:N ratio on the Mn incorporation and a dramatic increase in the Mn concentration was observed for the layers grown under N-rich conditions. Hall-effect measurements unambiguously showed that the GaMnN samples had strong p-type conductivity. For both N-rich and Ga-rich growth conditions a bulk hole density of about 1018cm−3 was achieved with a corresponding mobility of &gt;300cm2V−1s−1. This compares very favorably with other values reported for p doping of cubic GaN doped with C, suggesting that Mn may be a very suitable dopant for GaN-based electronic structures. The apparent values of ionization energy for Mn were around 50 meV, which is much shallower than for C or Mg in cubic GaN. In addition to a small high temperature ferromagnetic signal, a ferromagnetic correlation was detected among the remaining Mn ions at low temperatures, which is assigned to the onset of hole-mediated ferromagnetism in cubic GaMnN.

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The effect of varying annealing temperature and Al layer thickness on the structural and electrical characteristics of AuPtAlTi∕AlGaN∕GaN Ohmic contact structures has been systematically investigated. The relationship between annealing temperature, Al content, interfacial microstructure, surface planarity, and contact resistance is examined. In particular, the presence of a detrimental low temperature Pt–Al reaction is identified. This is implicated in both the requirement for a higher Al:Ti ratio than is required for related AuPdAlTi contact schemes and through the degraded temperature dependent resistance behaviour of the annealed AuPtAlTi contacts.