A cross-sectional serum investigation of a clustering hepatitis C virus infection in Southwest China

Serum samples were collected in a village with a clustering hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. HCV antibody, HCV RNA loads, liver function indexes, HCV envelope antibody, and neutralizing activity were assessed. Among 851 adult sera, 342 samples were positive for anti-HCV. Of these positive samples, 254 (74.3%) were HCV RNA positive (≥800 copies/mL). None of the 69 children's sera were positive for HCV antibody or RNA. Among the HCV antibody positive sera, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase levels increased with the higher virus loads, but decreased when virus loads were higher than 1 × 10 ⁶ copies/mL. HCV envelope antibody and neutralizing antibody levels increased with viral load.     

Prevalence characteristics of single and multiple HPV infections in women with cervical cancer and precancerous lesions in Beijing,China

We assessed the prevalence characteristics of single and multiple high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infections. A total of 1783 women who underwent colposcopy and cervical biopsy for abnormal ThinPrep Cytology Test and/or HR-HPV subtype genotyping results were enrolled in the study. Among the participants, 770 were diagnosed with cervicitis, 395 with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1 (CIN1), 542 with CIN2-3, and 76 with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), with HR-HPV infection rates of 75.8%, 85.8%, 95.9%, and 88.4%, respectively. The prevalence of total and multiple HR-HPV infections exhibited a bimodal age distribution with a peak at ≤25 years, a decline with age and a second peak at ≥55 years, whereas single HR-HPV infections exhibited one peak from 35 to 44 years. The four most dominant HPV genotypes were HPV 16 (29.5%), 52 (15.0%), 58 (14.2%), and 18 (10.4%). In total, 67.0%, 70.4%, and 82.1% of patients with CIN1, CIN2-3, and SCC, respectively, had a single HR-HPV infection, which increased significantly with the aggravation of the cervical lesion grade (P = 0.045). Patients with a single HPV 16 infection had higher incidences of CIN2+ (62.2%) than those with multiple HPV 16 infections (52.4%) (P = 0.021). Patients coinfected with HPV 16 had higher CIN2+ incidence than those with single HPV 52, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 56, or 59 infections (P < 0.001). This study provided baseline data on the prevalence characteristics of single and multiple HR-HPV infections in women attending a gynecological outpatient clinic in Beijing.     

Epidemiology of human adenovirus infection in children hospitalized with lower respiratory tract infections in Hunan,China

To investigate the current genotypes of circulating human adenovirus (HAdV) strains, we molecularly genotyped HAdV in the nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPAs) of patients with acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRTIs) and attempted to determine their associations with clinical symptoms. A total of 4751 NPA samples were collected from 4751 patients admitted to Hunan Provincial People's Hospital from September 2007 to March 2014, of which 447 (9.4%) samples were HAdV positive. Fourteen different HAdV types were identified; HAdV types 1 to 7 (HAdV 1-7) were identified in 95.7% of the 447 NPA samples with HAdV-7 and HAdV-3 being the most prevalent. In addition, 93.3% (417 of 447) of patients were younger than 5 years. The incidence of HAdV infection peaked in summer. Different HAdV types showed a predilection for different age groups and different seasonal distribution patterns. Coinfection of HAdVs and other respiratory viruses was detected in 63.3% (283 of 447) of the HAdV-positive samples. The most common clinical diagnosis was pneumonia and the most common symptoms were fever and cough. In comparison with children infected with HAdV-3 alone, those infected with HAdV-7 alone had an increased frequency of severe pneumonia involvement (11.6% vs 32.4%; P = 0.031), higher intensive care unit admission rates (7.0% vs 26.5%; P = 0.019), and a longer length of hospital stay (P = 0.03). Mixed infections in younger children were associated with a longer hospital stay (P = 0.023). Our results demonstrate the recent changes in the trends of circulating HAdV genotypes associated with ALRTIs in Hunan China.     

Correlations between TLR polymorphisms and inflammatory bowel disease: a meta-analysis of 49 case-control studies

Immunologic Research - Recently, the roles of toll-like receptor (TLR) polymorphisms in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) were intensively explored, with conflicting results. Therefore, we performed...     

西达本胺增加慢性髓系白血病耐药株K562/ADM细胞对柔红霉素的敏感性

目的 观察西达本胺（CDM）能否影响人慢性髓系白血病耐药株K562/ADM细胞对柔红霉素（DNR）的敏感性,并探讨其可能的分子机制。方法 体外常规培养K562细胞和K562/ADM细胞,给予不同剂量CDM和（或）DNR处理48 h后,采用细胞计数试剂盒8（CCK-8）法检测CDM与DNR对K562和K562/ADM细胞的毒性作用,采用Chou-Talalay中效分析法对两药的联合效应进行评价,采用流式细胞术检测细胞增殖、细胞周期和凋亡,采用Western blotting方法检测组蛋白2AX（H2AX）、γH2AX（Ser139）、共济失调毛细血管扩张征突变基因（ATM）、p-ATM（Ser1981）、乳腺癌易感蛋白l（BRCA1）和p-BRCA1（Ser1524）的蛋白表达水平。 结果 DNR可剂量依赖性地抑制K562/ADM细胞活力（P<0.05）,半数抑制浓度（IC50）为11.76 μmol/L,耐药倍数为18.09;CDM可协同增强DNR对K562/ADM细胞的抑制作用置信区间（CI）（CI<1）,反转倍数为8.11;与对照组相比,DNR组细胞增殖率显著降低（P<0.05）,G2/M期细胞比例和凋亡率明显升高（P<0.05）,而无毒剂量的CDM可协同增强DNR引起的细胞增殖抑制、G2/M期阻滞和细胞凋亡（P<0.05）;耐药株K562/ADM细胞中ATM和BRCA1蛋白表达水平显著高于其亲代K562细胞（P<0.05）;DNR可上调K562/ADM细胞中H2AX、ATM和BRCA1蛋白的磷酸化水平（P<0.05）;CDM与DNR联用可使γH2AX蛋白水平进一步升高,但p-ATM和p BRCA1蛋白水平的变化则相反（P<0.05）。 结论 CMD可反转K562/ADM细胞对DNR的耐药性,这可能与上调H2AX蛋白的磷酸化水平以及下调ATM和BRCA1蛋白的磷酸化水平有关。     

High genetic diversity and recombination events of porcine astrovirus strains identified from ill and asymptomatic pigs in 2017, Hunan Province,China

Astroviruses (AstV) are associated with enteric and systemic disease in mammals and birds. Astroviruses have received increased attention recently as they have been found to be associated with sporadic neurologic disease in mammals including humans. In pigs, porcine astrovirus (PoAstV) can be widely detected and has been grouped in five genotypes (PoAstV1 to PoAstV5). In the present study, we detected multiple PoAstVs in serum samples, nasal swabs, and fecal swabs collected from pigs suffering from respiratory disease or diarrhea but also from asymptomatic pigs, indicating a wide tissue tropism of the identified PoAstV genotypes. Coinfection of different genotypes in the same pig was commonly observed, and within an individual pig a high genetic diversity was observed for viruses belonging to the same PoAstV genotype. Two complete genomes of PoAstV2-WG-R2/2017 and PoAstV4-WG-R2/2017 were successfully obtained and characterized, with genome sizes of 6396 and 6643 nucleotides, respectively. The PoAstV2-WG-R2/2017 genome showed identities of 67.2–77.4% to other known PoAstV2 genomes, and the PoAstV4-WG-R2/2017 genome showed identities of 72.8–80.5% to other known PoAstV4 genomes. The predicted spike domain of open reading frame 2 (ORF2) of these strains showed the highest genetic heterogeneity, with amino acid identities of 13.7–70.9% for PoAstV2-WG-R2/2017 to other known PoAstV2 strains, and identities of 24.4–63.3% for the PoAstV4-WG-R2/2017 to other known PoAstV4 strains. Possible recombination events were identified in each of the two sequences. Two subclades of PoAstV2 and three subclades of PoAstV4 were defined in the present analyses. The obtained data provide further evidence for extraintestinal infectivity of PoAstVs, and confirmed the high genetic diversity of PoAstVs and the coinfection potential of different PoAstV types in a single pig.

     

Visible Light Controlled Polymerization of Azide‐Derived Monomers: A Facile,Metal‐Free PET‐ATRP Route to Construct Azide Polymers

Well‐defined azide polymers are successfully synthesized by visible‐light‐induced metal‐free electron transfer–atom transfer radical polymerization (PET‐ATRP) at room temperature. This technique uses Eosin Y/Et₃N as the reductive quenching photocatalyst system, which can effectively prevent the destruction of the azide group in polymerization. Four kinds of azide‐derived monomers participate well in this reaction and obtain satisfactory results. The kinetic behavior, “ON/OFF” experiment, and chain‐extension experiment confirm the living feature of this visible light controlled polymerization. Moreover, random copolymers obtained by this protocol can be used as surface modifier which further demonstrates the utility and reliability of this method.