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Enterococcus is a major cause of important nosocomial infections. Linezolid, the first member of an entirely new class of antibiotics (oxazolidinones), is effective against serious infections caused by Enterococcus . However, resistance to linezolid has been discovered throughout the world rapidly. From 2011 to 2013, nine linezolid-resistant E. faecalis isolates were collected and the possible mechanisms of linezolid resistance, including mutations in domain V of 23S rRNA genes and in ribosomal proteins L3 and L4, and the multiresistance gene cfr , were investigated. Furthermore, an epidemiological survey of the nine linezolid-resistant E. faecalis isolates was performed by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and DiversiLab. The three methods were compared to evaluate their merits and demerits, respectively. We failed to find the resistance mechanisms that have been revealed in recent years by PCR and sequencing analysis in the linezolid-resistant E. faecalis . Epidemiological investigation suggested that a small-scale outbreak of linezolid-resistant E. faecalis emerged in neurosurgery ICU from March to May of 2013. DiversiLab was a reliable typing tool and a suitable alternative to PFGE because it was as discriminatory as PFGE and better than MLST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hb E [β26(B8)Glu→Lys]/β-thalassemia (β-thal) is a worldwide inherited disorder. We determined the phenotype of 65 unrelated Hb E/β-thal subjects and 70 healthy individuals in the Guangxi Province of the Republic of China (ROC). Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs35959442 in HBS1L analysis was performed using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/restriction enzyme method. The data suggested that the frequency of the rs35959442 polymorphism was relatively high in patients with Hb E/β-thal in Guangxi Province, ROC, when associated with Hb F augmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the status and characteristics of environmental awareness and environmental education in primary school and high school in Kunming, China. Comparative level of participation of elementary and high school students in environmental affairs; Need to encourage the penetration of environmental education from the perspective of teaching methods; Importance of advancing theoretical study of promoting environmental education.

β-Thalassemia (β-thal) is the most common inherited hemolytic anemia worldwide. Elevated Hb A 2 is a mark of β-thal carriers. The aim of this study was to identify the pathogenic variants associated with the Hb A 2 levels. One thousand and thirty β-thal carriers were recruited for this study. Using positive natural expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis, a significant variant was selected. Genotyping for the rs231841 polymorphism was performed by the Sequenom MassARRAY IPLEX platform. All genetic association analyses were performed with the PLINK program. The linear regression analysis showed that rs231841 in the intron region of the potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily Q member 1 (KCNQ1) gene on chromosome 11p15 was significantly associated with Hb A 2 levels. The presence of the C allele was associated with elevated Hb A 2 levels. Our results suggest that rs231841 on the KCNQ1 gene with positive natural selection is related to Hb A 2 levels in Chinese β-thal carriers, and KCNQ1 is probably associated with the expression of the β-like globin gene cluster.