BackgroundGuangzhou is the economic center of South China, which is currently suffering an insidious re-emergence of syphilis. Syphilis epidemic in this area is a matter of serious concern, because of the special economic position of Guangzhou and its large migrant population. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of surveillance data is needed to provide further information for developing targeted control programs.MethodCase-based surveillance data obtained from a real-time, web-based system were analyzed. A hierarchical clustering method was applied to classify the 12 districts of Guangzhou into several epidemiological regions. The district-level annual incidence and clustering results were displayed on the same map to show the spatial patterns of syphilis in Guangzhou.ResultsA total of 60,178 syphilis cases were reported during the period from 2005 to 2013, among which primary/secondary syphilis accounted for 15,864 cases (26.36 %), latent syphilis for 41,078 cases (68.26 %) and congenital syphilis for 2,090 cases (3.47 %). Moreover, primary/secondary syphilis burden slightly decreased from 17.5-18.0 cases per 100,000 people in the first years to 10.6 cases per 100,000 in 2013, with latent syphilis largely increasing from 18.5 cases per 100,000 to 43.4 cases per 100,000. Districts of Guangzhou could be classified into 3 epidemiological regions according to the syphilis burden over the last 3 years of the study period.ConclusionsThe burden of primary/secondary syphilis appears to be decreasing in recent years, whereas that of latent syphilis is increasing. Given the epidemiological features and the annual changes found in this study, it is suggested that future control programs should be more population-specific and spatially targeted.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-015-1072-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness of different populations about syphilis in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province, China. A questionnaire survey was conducted, and awareness rates of different groups were calculated. The results suggested that the awareness rates of syphilis knowledge in the surveyed subjects were low, and targeted health education and health promotion should be strengthened.

Last two decades has witnessed various technical programs towards the development of new dielectric films for high temperature and high energy density capacitor technology. Yet, the organic polypropylene film still holds its top position for film capacitors required for electric and electronic power applications such as power grid, hybrid electric vehicles, oil and gas exploration, and aviation. However, its low temperature stability determined by its structural nature limits its further adoption for more rising markets. This work thus developed a creative method (ultrathin coating of inorganic compound using atomic layer deposition) to increase the high temperature stability and the dielectric strength of such a strategically important polymer film from below 105 °C to above 140 °C. Several techniques also confirmed the effective minimization of the dimensional change and crystallinity loss at higher temperatures, i.e., Thermomechanical analysis, Dynamic mechanical analysis, Dynamic Scanning calorimetry, x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy techniques. This breakthrough discovery adds a huge value to the commercial PP films and relevant capacitor industry and will extend the operation of high-performance PP film capacitors to various high standard applications.

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the rationality of congenital syphilis (CS) cases reported by physicians in hospitals of various levels in Guangzhou, China. The over-reporting rate was calculated. The results suggested that 49.1% (54 out of 110) of the CS cases reviewed were identified as cases that should be reported; 18 of the 54 CS case were confirmed CS cases and 50.9% (56 out of 110) were identified as over reported. Factors associated with CS case misclassification were analysed. To decrease the incidence of CS, antenatal care management and rapid plasma reagin titres should be provided and the follow up for children should be raised.Additional keywords: case report, child, epidemiology, neonate, review, STIs. The congenital syphilis (CS) incidence in China increased from 0.01 per 100 000 live births in 1991 to 19.7 per 100 000 live births in 2005, 1 resulting in an average of more than one syphilitic neonatal birth per hour in 2008. 2 The Chinese Ministry of Health recently announced a comprehensive 10-year National Syphilis Prevention and Control Plan (NSCP), which aimed to reduce the number of newly reported CS cases to less than 30 per 100 000 live births by 2015 and continuously reduce the number to 15 per 100 000 live births by 2020. 3 Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province in southern China, has experienced a dramatic CS increase from 38.19 per 100 000 live births in 2000 to 243.61 per 100 000 live births in 2011. 4 However, owing to the different professional backgrounds of the clinicians from various hospitals, the diagnostic misclassification was inevitable and the current incidence of CS may not be accurate. Data on evaluating the reported syphilis cases are limited in China. The present work aimed to evaluate the evidence based on which CS cases were diagnosed and reported.The data pertaining to the 110 CS cases in Guangzhou in 2012 were obtained from National Notifiable Disease Reporting System (NNDRS) and reviewed by sexually transmitted diseases (STD) experts using both clinical and laboratory parameters according to both syphilis case definition and case reporting guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health, China. 5 Briefly, reported CS cases are divided into CS case probable and CS case confirmed. The CS case probable is defined as an infant, who was born from a mother with untreated syphilis or incompletely treated syphilis, or a child who had sera reactive non-Treponema antibodies regardless of clinical syphilitic findings. The CS case confirmed is defined as a child who is a probable CS case with a four-fold higher non-specific Treponema pallidum antibody in the blood than that of the child's mother, or a neonate with T. pallidum isolated from lesions, placenta, umbilical cord or autopsy material, or a baby with a reactive immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody test or a child with positive syphilitic findings on a bone X-ray and an abnormal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) venereal diseases research laboratory test or cell count/protein. Data on evaluating rationality of r...