Lancet
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Despite its dramatic improvement, China's tuberculosis burden is still high according to the 2015 WHO TB report. Evidence show that experienced physicians do better in reducing delay diagnosis and patient mortality and are more likely to follow the treatment guidelines. However, in China, few studies have focused on physicians specialised in tuberculosis; and these few studies were mainly centred on the prevalence and risk factors among them. We assessed the occupational challenges of these physicians in China. ⋯ Natural Science Foundation of China (71203068 and 71573095) and the China National Health and Family Planning Commission and the Gates Foundation TB Project (51914). The funders had no role in the study.
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Unlicensed medical practice has been subject to high health supervision and inspection in China over the past decade. Unlicensed medical practice in China reflects not only the large gap between increases in demand and deficiencies in healthcare resources, but also the history and cultural background of the population. Our objectives were to describe current status of unlicensed medical practice and to discuss underlying causes of this phenomenon in China. ⋯ None.
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The treatment combination of traditional Chinese medicine with western medicine results in significant decrease of serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA and increase of HBeAg loss in patients with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) without any serious adverse events. We aimed to assess whether the Bushenjianpi Formula combined with entecavir could increase the HBsAg loss rate in patients with HBeAg-negative CHB. ⋯ National Natural Science Foundation of China (81473477, 81403354, 81473629, 81403351, 81503545), Science Research Project of Twelve Five-year Plan (2012ZX10005004-002), Shanghai Rising-Star Program (13QA1403500), the Key Technology Research of Shanghai Municipal Science (13401902900), Three-year action plan of development of TCM in Shanghai (ZYSNXD-CC-ZDYJ015 and ZY3-CCCX-3-3027), Training plan of outstanding young medical talents, Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau (XYQ2013093), Shanghai Sailing Program (14YF1411600, 15YF1412300), Wang Baoen liver fibrosis research fund of China foundation for Hepatitis Prevention and Control (CFHPC20131045, CFHPC20131046) and the Budgeted Projects of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2013JW40, 2014YSN39).
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Enormous efforts have been made to decentralise HIV service delivery in China, gradually developing a network of thousands of Centres For Disease Control And Prevention (CDCs) with or without local hospitals providing antiretroviral therapy (ART) to every village or equivalent. However, in the Guangdong Province, China, most infected patients from CDCs delivering HIV services have been switched to sentinel hospitals, providing an opportunity to examine this shift on linkage to care, retention, and mortality among people living with HIV. We examined long-term outcomes of people living with HIV who accessed services through sentinel hospitals and CDCs in the Guangdong Province. ⋯ This study was supported by Twelve Fifth Key Research grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology, People's Republic of China (2012ZX10001003-003), Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (201300000092), and the US National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center Global Infectious Diseases Training Grant (1D43TW009532-01). These fundings had no role in study design and data analyses.
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Critics argue that traditional Chinese medicine should focus on a personalised patient experience, and that standardised practices risk killing the traditional art. The development of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for Chinese medicine, which began 30 years ago, has risen remarkably over the years. However, for individual practitioners for whom these guidelines are recommended, the impact of the CPGs on clinical practice and their acceptability remain unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate acceptability of standardisation guidelines in traditional Chinese medicine practitioners in China, and the effect of CPGs on clinical practice. ⋯ Chinese Ministry of Finance (number ZYYBZ-2012).