Galbraith plots were used to explore the sources of heterogeneity. We found that all I2 values were decreased after excluding the outliers. The Cardionogen 1 results suggested that the two outlying studies might be the major source of the heterogeneity. However, heterogeneity did not seem to influence the results, because the significance of the result was not altered after excluding the outliers. Moreover, we carried out sensitivity analyses. Removal of each study did not alter the associations with sepsis risk and mortality risk, suggesting the reliability of these results. The cumulative meta-analyses showed a trend of more marked associations between PAI-1 -675 4G/5G polymorphism and increased risk of sepsis and mortality as data accumulated each year. This procedure also proved that our results were robust. Salanti et al. suggested that false-negative results may be suppressed or false-positive results magnified. Thus, the results of meta-analyses might be influenced by publication bias. Although Egger��s test did not show significant publication bias for sepsis risk, we found the shape of the funnel plot was slightly asymmetrical. In addition, significant publication bias was observed for mortality risk. Thus, the results should be interpreted cautiously and more studies are still needed to confirm the findings from this metaanalysis. Some limitations of this meta-analysis should be pointed out. First, the number of included studies in our meta-analysis was moderate. Second, most of the studies were conducted in Caucasian populations. Therefore, our results may be applicable only to this ethnic group. Third, sepsis is a DFHBI complex disease, and many genes are associated with it. However, we could not address gene-gene interactions in this meta-analysis due to the lack of the related information. Fourth, the overall outcome was based on unadjusted data, whereas a more precise analysis could be performed if individual data were available to allow adjustment. Finally, because only the studies that were indexed by the selected databases were included in our meta-analysis, some relevant published studies may not have been included, which may have biased our results. In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggested that PAI-1 -675 4G/ 5G polymorphism may represent a risk factor for sepsis and sepsisrelated mortality. Well-designed studies with large sample sizes are needed to further evaluate the associations between this polymorphism and clinical outcomes of sepsis in various ethnic populations. Moreover, gene-gene interactions should also be considered in future studies. Mosquitoes are vectors of debilitating diseases that take an immense toll on global health. Anopheline mosquitoes transmit pathogenic protozoans that cause malaria. On an annual basis, there are an estimated hundreds of millions of episodes of malaria, which claim nearly one million lives;,85% of the victims are children under 5 years of age. Culicine mosquitoes transmit viral pathogens that cause chikungunya, dengue, West Nile, and yellow fevers. Of the estimated 50�C100 million individuals infected with dengue each year, hundreds of thousands require hospitalization and tens of thousands die. These protozoan and viral pathogens are transmitted to humans solely by adult female mosquitoes, which feed on vertebrate blood to obtain nutrients for developing eggs.