[Effectiveness of intervention services provided by social workers in methadone maintenance treatment clinics].

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of psychosocial services provided by social workers in reducing dropout rate and increasing treatment dosage in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) users.

Methods: From May in 2009 to April in 2010, 300 MMT users were recruited from three MMT clinics in Guangzhou, and were randomly allocated into the intervention group and the control groups. The control group (152 cases) received standard MMT services while the intervention group (148 cases) received additional services provided by social workers.

[Study on the dynamic prevalence of serum antibody against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus in employees from wild animal market in Guangzhou].

Objective: To investigate the dynamic trend of specific antibody against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV in serum collected at various periods among employees in Guangzhou Xinyuan animal market.

Methods: Volunteers from employees of the animal market were recruited and their serum specific antibody against SARS-CoV were determined by enzyme linked immunesorbent assay (ELISA) method.

Results: Positive SARS-CoV specific IgG antibody was found 25.

Molecular evolution analysis and geographic investigation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-like virus in palm civets at an animal market and on farms.

Massive numbers of palm civets were culled to remove sources for the reemergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Guangdong Province, China, in January 2004, following SARS coronavirus detection in market animals. The virus was identified in all 91 palm civets and 15 raccoon dogs of animal market origin sampled prior to culling, but not in 1,107 palm civets later sampled at 25 farms, spread over 12 provinces, which were claimed to be the source of traded animals. Twenty-seven novel signature variation residues (SNVs) were identified on the spike gene and were analyzed for their phylogenetic relationships, based on 17 sequences obtained from animals in our study and from other published studies.