Objective To explore the relationship between the distribution of infected snails and transmission of acute schistosomiasis in hilly regions.Methods The data concerning the distribution of the infected snails and acute schistosomiasis in Shitai County,Anhui Province from 1999 to 2008 were collected and analyzed.Results The sehistosome infection rate of human increased as the distance between the settings with infected snails and activity sites of humans shortened.Conclusions Acute infection of schistosome of human is associated with the distance between the settings with infected snails and activity sites of them.Strengthening the measures of snail control in key regions,protecting key populations and carrying out health education for schistosomiasis control are important approaches to control the transmission of acute schistosomiasis in hilly regions.

In this study, we successfully expanded a full length gene encoding the monooxygenase eytochrome P450 2C9 gene from human liver of Chinese Han by RT-PCR. Our findings indicated that except G-->T mutation at the 190th nucleotide site, the other nucleotide sequences are completely consistent with CYP2C9 (NM017460) in GenBank. The SDS-PAGE and Western-Blot analysis showed that the CYP 2C9 gene was successfully expressed in the host cell E. coli BL21 (DE3). Our current study lays the foundation for the evaluation of pre-clinical drug metabolism and safety in the future.
Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylases ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; China ; ethnology ; Cloning, Molecular ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C9 ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Humans ; Point Mutation ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics

As a supplement to randomized controlled trials， observational studies can provide evidence for the effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） treatment measures. They can also study influencing factors of diseases， etiology， and prognosis. However， there is a confounding effect due to the lack of randomization， which seriously affects the causal inference between the study factors and the outcome， resulting in confounding bias. Therefore， identifying and controlling confounding factors are key issues to be addressed in TCM observational studies. According to the causal network and the characteristics of TCM theory， confounding factors can be categorized into measured and unmeasured confounding factors. In addition， attention must be paid to identifying confounding factors and intermediate variables， as well as the interaction between confounding factors and study factors. For methods of controlling confounding factors， measured confounding factors can be controlled by stratification， multifactor analysis， propensity scores， and disease risk scores. Unmeasured and unknown confounding factors can be corrected using instrumental variable methods， difference-in-difference methods， and correction for underlying event rate ratios. Correcting and controlling confounding factors can ensure a balance between groups， and confounding bias can be reduced. In addition， methods such as sensitivity analysis and determination of interactions make the control of confounding factors more comprehensive. Due to the unique characteristics of TCM， observational studies of TCM face unique challenges in identifying and controlling confounding factors， including the ever-changing TCM treatment measures received by patients， the often-overlooked confounding effects in the four diagnostic information of TCM， and the lack of objective criteria for TCM evidence-based diagnosis. Some scholars have already conducted innovative explorations to address these issues， providing a methodological basis for conducting higher-quality TCM observational studies， so as to obtain more rigorous real-world evidence of TCM and gradually develop quality evaluation criteria for OS that are consistent with the characteristics of TCM.