BackgroundThe human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines have been widely introduced in immunization programs worldwide, however, it is not accepted in mainland China. We aimed to investigate the awareness and knowledge about HPV vaccines and explore the acceptability of vaccination among the Chinese population.MethodsA meta-analysis was conducted across two English (PubMed, EMBASE) and three Chinese (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan Fang Database and VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals) electronic databases in order to identify HPV vaccination studies conducted in mainland China. We conducted and reported the analysis in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.ResultsFifty-eight unique studies representing 19 provinces and municipalities in mainland China were assessed. The pooled awareness and knowledge rates about HPV vaccination were 15.95 % (95 % CI: 12.87–19.29, I2 = 98.9 %) and 17.55 % (95 % CI: 12.38–24.88, I2 = 99.8 %), respectively. The female population (17.39 %; 95 % CI: 13.06–22.20, I2 = 98.8 %) and mixed population (18.55 %; 95 % CI: 14.14–23.42, I2 = 98.8 %) exhibited higher HPV vaccine awareness than the male population (1.82 %; 95 % CI: 0.50–11.20, I2 = 98.5 %). Populations of mixed ethnicity had lower HPV vaccine awareness (9.61 %; 95 % CI: 5.95–14.03, I2 = 99.0 %) than the Han population (20.17 %; 95 % CI: 16.42–24.20, I2 = 98.3 %). Among different regions, the HPV vaccine awareness was higher in EDA (17.57 %; 95 % CI: 13.36–22.21, I2 = 98.0 %) and CLDA (17.78 %; 95 % CI: 12.18–24.19, I2 = 97.6 %) than in WUDA (1.80 %; 95 % CI: 0.02–6.33, I2 = 98.9 %). Furthermore, 67.25 % (95 % CI: 58.75–75.21, I2 = 99.8 %) of participants were willing to be vaccinated, while this number was lower for their daughters (60.32 %; 95 % CI: 51.25–69.04, I2 = 99.2 %). The general adult population (64.72 %; 95 % CI: 55.57–73.36, I2 = 99.2 %) was more willing to vaccinate their daughters than the parent population (33.78 %; 95 % CI: 26.26–41.74, I2 = 88.3 %). Safety (50.46 %; 95 % CI: 40.00–60.89, I2 = 96.6 %) was the main concern about vaccination among the adult population whereas the safety and efficacy (68.19 %; 95 % CI: 53.13–81.52, I2 = 98.6 %) were the main concerns for unwillingness to vaccinate their daughters.ConclusionsLow HPV vaccine awareness and knowledge was observed among the Chinese population. HPV vaccine awareness differed across sexes, ethnicities, and regions. Given the limited quality and number of studies included, further research with improved study designis necessary.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-2873-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Backgrounds/ObjectiveSchistosomiasis is still a major public health problem in China, despite the fact that the government has implemented a series of strategies to prevent and control the spread of the parasitic disease. Advanced warning and reliable forecasting can help policymakers to adjust and implement strategies more effectively, which will lead to the control and elimination of schistosomiasis. Our aim is to explore the application of a hybrid forecasting model to track the trends of the prevalence of schistosomiasis in humans, which provides a methodological basis for predicting and detecting schistosomiasis infection in endemic areas.MethodsA hybrid approach combining the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model and the nonlinear autoregressive neural network (NARNN) model to forecast the prevalence of schistosomiasis in the future four years. Forecasting performance was compared between the hybrid ARIMA-NARNN model, and the single ARIMA or the single NARNN model.ResultsThe modelling mean square error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the ARIMA-NARNN model was 0.1869×10−4, 0.0029, 0.0419 with a corresponding testing error of 0.9375×10−4, 0.0081, 0.9064, respectively. These error values generated with the hybrid model were all lower than those obtained from the single ARIMA or NARNN model. The forecasting values were 0.75%, 0.80%, 0.76% and 0.77% in the future four years, which demonstrated a no-downward trend.ConclusionThe hybrid model has high quality prediction accuracy in the prevalence of schistosomiasis, which provides a methodological basis for future schistosomiasis monitoring and control strategies in the study area. It is worth attempting to utilize the hybrid detection scheme in other schistosomiasis-endemic areas including other infectious diseases.

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.