Forecasting respiratory infectious outbreaks using ED-based syndromic surveillance for febrile ED visits in a Metropolitan City

Background

Monitoring and detecting sudden outbreaks of respiratory infectious disease is important. Emergency Department (ED)-based syndromic surveillance systems have been introduced for early detection of infectious outbreaks. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a forecasting model of respiratory infectious disease outbreaks based on a nationwide ED syndromic surveillance using daily number of emergency department visits with fever.

Protective mechanism of Wnt4 gene on Parkinson’s disease (PD) transgenic Drosophila

Objective: The main pathological change of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is progressive degeneration and necrosis of dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain, forming a Lewy body in many of the remaining neurons. Studies have found that in transgenic Drosophila, mutations in the PTEN-inducible kinase 1 (PINK1) gene may cause indirect flight muscle defects in Drosophila, and mitochondrial structural dysfunction as well.

Methods: In this study, Wnt4 gene overexpression and knockdown were performed in PINK1 mutant PD transgenic Drosophila, and the protective effect of Wnt4 gene on PD transgenic Drosophila and its possible mechanism were explored. The Wnt4 gene was screened in the previous experiment; And by using the PD transgenic Drosophila model of the MHC-Gal4/UAS system, the PINK1 gene could be specifically activated in the Drosophila muscle tissue.

Results: In PINK1 mutation transgenic fruit flies, the Wnt4 gene to study its implication on PD transgenic fruit flies’ wing normality and flight ability. We found that overexpression of Wnt4 gene significantly reduced abnormality rate of PD transgenic Drosophila and improved its flight ability, and then, increased ATP concentration, enhanced mitochondrial membrane potential and normalized mitochondrial morphology were found. All of these findings suggested Wnt4 gene may have a protective effect on PD transgenic fruit flies. Furthermore, in Wnt4 gene overexpression PD transgenic Drosophila, down-regulation autophagy and apoptosis-related proteins Ref(2)P, Pro-Caspase3, and up-regulation of Beclin1, Atg8a, Bcl2 protein were confirmed by Western Blotting.

Conclusion: The results imply that the restoring of mitochondrial function though Wnt4 gene overexpression in the PINK1 mutant transgenic Drosophila may be related to autophagy and/or apoptosis.     

Primary Application of Micro-Flow Imaging Technology in the Diagnosis of Hepatic Tumors

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the vascular architecture of focal liver lesions with the newly released non-contrast micro-flow imaging (MFI) technique. Eighty patients with 80 hepatic tumors were enrolled in this study. The richness of displayed blood flow was first compared with color Doppler flow imaging using grades according to Adler's method. The results indicated that MFI outperformed color Doppler flow imaging with a statistically significant difference (p <0.0001). With the enhanced position in arterial phase of contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging as the ground truth, the displayed blood flow distribution within tumors in MFI was further evaluated. The coincidence rate between MFI and contrast-enhanced ultrasound was 73.75% (59/80), which was higher than that of color Doppler flow imaging (52.5%, 42/80) (p < 0.0001). Moreover, for the five cases of focal nodular hyperplasia, MFI clearly revealed the spoke-wheel or radiating intra-tumoral vasculature, a finding specific to the diagnosis of focal nodular hyperplasia.     

护理专业流行病学课程混合式教学设计与效果评价

目的　探讨混合式教学在流行病学课程中的应用及效果。方法　随机抽取2016级护理专业1个班学生为实验组（n=83），另一个班为对照组（n=122），在流行病学选修课中分别采用混合式教学和传统教学。授课结束后对两组学生分别进行相应问卷的不记名调查；同时采用非标准答案考试成绩及学生对综合能力培养的认可度两项指标评价教学效果。应用SPSS 18.0，对组间数据比较行t检验、检验。结果　实验组学生总评平均成绩（85.55±10.49）高于对照组（80.07±9.47），差异有统计学意义（t=3.897，P=0.000）；实验组学生对混合式教学培养独立自主学习能力、协作能力、知识应用及解决问题能力的认可程度，高于对照组对传统教学在各项能力培养上的认可度，差异均有统计学意义（P<0.05）。结论　混合式教学适用于流行病学课程，其教学效果为学生所认可。     

<i>Sinomenium</i> Inhibits the Viability of Hepatoma Carcinoma Cells through Activating IFNA2

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks the sixth place of most common cancers. Meanwhile, it is the tertiary mortality cause of cancer. There is no effective therapeutic method to prevent and treat the liver cancer. Sinomenine is a kind of Chinese traditional medicine herbal, it is reported that it can inhibit the viability of several cancer cells. The study is to explore whether sinomenine is also able to inhibit the cell viability of HCC and its potential mechanism. The IC50 of sinomenine in BEL-7402 cells was 5.351 mmol/L, and the IC50 of sinomenine in SMMC-7721 cells was 6.204 mmol/L. The gene expression results showed the relative expression of FGF2, CCND2, DCN, F3, MMP7, NRG1, HMGB1, TRIM29, HAS2, EHF, CTGF, PLK2 were down-regulated, and the relative expression of VEGF A, CITED2, NUPR1, DDX58, IRF9, NAMPT, MMP1, NDRG1, HMGA2, PPARGC1A, IFIT2, PARP9, HEY1, LOX, ETV1, ISG15, BACH, CYLD were up-regulated. Moreover, the IPA analysis results suggested that IFIT3, IFIT1, OAS1, MX1, IRF9, IFI6, IFITM1, ISG15 were up-regulated in BEL-7402 cells treated with sinomenine by activating IFNA2. The findings presented in this study may provide a promising method for the prevention and treatment of liver cancer.     

A new coumarin and a new norlignan from Ficus tsiangii

Chemical investigation of the stem bark of Ficus tsiangii led to the isolation of a new coumarin ficuscoumarin (1) and a new norlignan ficuslignan (2) by chromatographic methods. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analyses.     

Activation of CD3+ T cells by Helicobacter pylori DNA vaccines in potential immunotherapy of gastric carcinoma

Most of gastric carcinoma (GC) is attributed to infection by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) but there is increasing evidence that the positive H. pylori status correlates with better prognosis in GC. The H. pylori-induced cellular immune response may suppress cancer and in this work, recombinant pcDNA3 plasmids encoding various fragments of H. pylori virulence genes of cagA, vacA and babA are constructed and combined into groups to immunize BALB/c mice. The activated splenic CD3⁺ T cells are purified and the anticancer effects are investigated in vitro and in vivo. The H. pylori DNA vaccines induce a shift in the response from Th1 to Th2 that mimicks the immune status in patients of GC with chronic H. pylori infection. The stimulated CD3⁺ T cells inhibit the growth of human GC cells in vitro and adoptive transfusions of the CD3⁺ T cells suppress the growth of GC xenograft in vivo. The effects may be caused by the larger ratios of infiltrated CD8⁺/CD4⁺ T cells, reduced infiltration of regulatory FOXP3⁺ T cells, and enhanced apoptosis induced by upregulation of Caspase-9/Caspase-3 and downregulation of Survivin. Our results reveal the potential immunotherapeutic value of H. pylori vaccine-activated CD3⁺ T cells in those with advanced GC.