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Background: For Chinese Han populations, cryptococcosis are more likely to occur in HIV‐uninfected patients instead of HIV‐infected patients compared with other countries and regions, implying that there may be genetic predisposing factors for cryptococcosis in the Chinese Han populations. However, the retail mechanism has not been clarified. Objectives: We aimed to conduct an association analysis between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of pattern recognition receptors (PRR) genes and the susceptibility to cryptococcosis in HIV‐uninfected Chinese patients, which may provide new genetic predisposing factors for early‐risk prediction of disease, individualised treatment and prognosis monitoring. Patients/methods: Using the SNaPshot SNP typing technique, eight SNPs of PRR genes (Dectin‐2, Dectin‐1, PTX3, CXCL8, IL12B, IFIH1, TLR1 and CD209) were typed on 97 HIV‐uninfected cryptococcosis patients and 120 healthy controls who admitted to West China Hospital, Sichuan University, China, from 1 March 2018 to 30 December 2018. The results were analysed by the SHEsis software and SPSS 20.0 software. Results: It was found that that PTX3 rs2305619 polymorphism was associated with cryptococcosis in HIV‐uninfected patients. Compared with the GG genotype, AA genotype increased the risk of cryptococcosis in HIV‐uninfected patients (p =.015, OR, 2.579; 95% CI, 1.202–5.535). In the immunocompetent patients, the AA genotype had a higher risk (p =.002, OR, 4.399; 95% CI, 1.745–11.088). Further verification found that the plasma PTX3 level of the AA genotype was significantly higher than the GA or GG genotype (60.28 ± 16.12 vs 7.32 ± 0.79, p <.001). Conclusions: PTX3 rs2305619 polymorphism was associated with cryptococcosis in HIV‐uninfected Chinese patients. The AA genotype increased the risk of cryptococcosis, and its plasma PTX3 level was significantly higher than that of GA or GG genotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the use of PCM-TWS (phase change material Trombe wall) as a solution for improving energy efficiency in HSCW region buildings in China. The study found that the optimal parameters for PCM-TWS include a phase change temperature of 20–30° Celsius, a latent heat of 175–225 kJ/kg, and an air gap and indoor air exchange rate of 0.12 m³/s. The results indicate that the use of PCM-TWS can significantly reduce heat load and improve thermal comfort, with a 71.53% reduction in heat load during the heating season. The payback period for the PCM TWS investment ranges from 6.56 to 11.18 years, the investment in PCM TWS appears to be attractive and economically valuable. This study contributes to the current body of knowledge on the use of PCM TWS for improving energy efficiency in HSCW buildings in China. • This study analyzes PCM-TWS potential in improving HSCW building energy efficiency in China. • Optimal PCM-TWS parameters:20–30 °C phase change temp, 175–225 kJ/kg latent heat, 0.12 m³/s air gap & room air exchange rate. • PCM-TWS has high economic value, with payback periods of 6.56–11.18 years (depending on the discount rate). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding effects of land-use changes driven by the implementation of the “Grain for Green” project and the corresponding changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) storage is important in evaluating the environmental benefits of this ecological restoration project. The goals of this study were to quantify the current soil organic carbon density (SOCD) in different land-use types [cultivated land, abandoned land (cessation of farming), woodland, wild grassland and orchards] in a catchment of the loess hilly and gully region of China to evaluate the benefits of SOC sequestration achieved by vegetation restoration in the past 10 years as well as to discuss uncertain factors affecting future SOC sequestration. Based on soil surveys (N = 83) and laboratory analyses, the results show that the topsoil (0–20 cm) SOCD was 20.44 Mg/ha in this catchment. Using the SOCD in cultivated lands (19.08 Mg/ha) as a reference, the SOCD in woodlands and abandoned lands was significantly higher by 33.81% and 8.49%, respectively, whereas in orchards, it was lower by 10.80%. The correlation analysis showed that SOC and total nitrogen (TN) were strongly correlated (R2 = 0.98) and that the average C∶N (SOC∶TN) ratio was 9.69. With increasing years since planting, the SOCD in woodlands showed a tendency to increase; however, no obvious difference was observed in orchards. A high positive correlation was found between SOCD and elevation (R2 = 0.395), but a low positive correlation was found between slope and SOCD (R2 = 0.170, P = 0.127). In the past 10 years of restoration, SOC storage did not increase significantly (2.74% or 3706.46 t) in the catchment where the conversion of cultivated land to orchards was the primary restoration pattern. However, the potential contribution of vegetation restoration to SOC sequestration in the next several decades would be massive if the woodland converted from the cropland is well managed and maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Riparian woodlands have recently been recognized as important carbon (C) storage regions with a considerable potential of sequestering C to mitigate global warming. Understanding soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in riparian woodland and the differences in SOC storage between riparian woodlands and other adjacent land types is important to effectively assess SOC storage in riparian woodlands and the influences of riparian land-use changes on SOC pool. Therefore, we thoroughly investigated C storage in the riparian woodlands along the Lijiang River watershed, located in a karst area in southwestern China. The goals of the study were to quantify the SOC density (SOCD) in the riparian woodland (0–20 cm depth of upper soil) [ N = 54, the plot area was 1130.88 ± 136.13 m 2 (mean value with standard deviation)]; to compare the differences in SOCD in the riparian woodland [bamboo-dominated ( N = 9) and non-bamboo-dominated woodlands ( N = 45)], the adjacent grasslands ( N = 13) and the farmlands [croplands ( N = 17) and orchards ( N = 17)]; and to assess the influence of soil texture, plant litter and soil root biomass on the SOCD of the riparian woodlands. The results showed that the average SOCD in the riparian woodlands of the Lijiang River watershed was 35.79 ± 9.51 t/ha. The SOCD in the non-bamboo-dominated woodland was 36.91 ± 9.63 t/ha, which was higher than that in the bamboo-dominated woodlands (29.86 ± 4.90 t/ha) by 7.05 t/ha (about 23.59%) ( p < 0.05) and was higher than that in the adjacent grasslands (27.77 ± 7.35 t/ha), croplands (28.93 ± 7.30 t/ha) and orchards (21.26 ± 8.20 t/ha) by 32.91%, 27.58% and 73.61%, respectively ( p < 0.01). However, the SOCD in the bamboo-dominated woodlands was only higher than that in the orchard by 8.60 t/ha (about 40.45%) ( p = 0.012). In the non-bamboo-dominated woodlands in the Lijiang riparian watershed, the SOCD showed a significant negative correlation with soil sand content ( r = − 0.69) and a significant positive correlation with the silt ( r = 0.59) and clay content ( r = 0.61) ( p < 0.01). The SOCD showed a significant positive correlation with plant litter ( r = 0.44) and soil root biomass ( r = 0.38) ( p < 0.05). Finally, the results indicate that the non-bamboo-dominated riparian woodland in the karst area stores more SOC compared with the adjacent grassland and farmland. However, converting riparian vegetation into bamboo woodland did not increase the accumulation of SOC and even caused some SOC loss in the Lijiang riparian area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two Enterobacter strains 170198 T and 170250 T were isolated from clinical blood samples from distinct patients in a hospital in Chengdu, China, in 2022. These isolates were subjected to whole-genome sequencing. A phylogenomic tree based on 2,096 concatenated core genes showed that the two strains were clustered within the genus Enterobacter . The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and in silico DNA-DNA hybridization ( is DDH) values between each of the two strains and type strains of all currently known Enterobacter species were determined. The two strains belonged to two novel species as the highest ANI and is DDH values with type strains of all currently known Enterobacter species below the cutoff for species demarcation (96% for ANI and 70% for is DDH). Then the physiological and biochemical studies demonstrated that biochemical features and the profile of whole fatty acids of strains 170198 T and 170250 T were largely consistent with those known Enterobacter species. Nevertheless, the two novel species can be differentiated from all other Enterobacter species by certain biochemical characteristics. In conclusion, 170198 T and 170250 T represent two novel species of the genus Enterobacter , for which we propose Enterobacter chinensis sp. nov. and Enterobacter rongchengensis sp. nov., as the species names. The type strains of Enterobacter chinensis sp. nov., and Enterobacter rongchengensis sp. nov. are 170198 T (=GDMCC 1.3549 T =JCM 35826 T ) and 170250 T (=GDMCC 1.3670 T =JCM 36189 T ), respectively. The two novel species have clinical significance with the ability to cause bloodstream infections.IMPORTANCE Enterobacter is a group of bacteria comprising several common opportunistic pathogens and has a complicated taxonomy. Here, we reported two novel Enterobacter species. We demonstrated that the two novel species can be differentiated from other Enterobacter species by certain phenotypic characteristics and therefore provide information for designing tests for identification. We also showed that strains of the two novel species are able to cause human bloodstream infections and carry multiple virulence factors and therefore are of clinical significance. We highlight that the virulence of Enterobacter is less studied and warrants further exploration. We believe that the findings here are valuable for enhancing the appreciation toward Enterobacter , an important pathogen., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Objective: To study the distribution and drug resistance characteristics of pathogenic bacteria in the elderly population of China by collecting and analyzing the standardized case data on the pathogens of infections in elderly patients, and to facilitate the establishment of a standardized layered surveillance system for pathogenic bacteria in China., Methods: We collected the case data of elderly patients (≥65 years old) from 62 sentinel hospitals across the country in 2021. Then, we statistically analyzed the data by patient age, their geographical region, the distribution of pathogenic bacteria, and the drug resistance characteristics of main pathogens., Results: A total of 3468 cases from across the country were included in the study. The top three sources of patients were the intensive care unit (13.2%), the department of respiratory medicine (11.2%), and the department of general surgery (8.4%). The top three types of specimens were urine (25.5%), sputum (20.6%), and blood (18.7%). A total of 3468 strains of pathogens were isolated, among which, 78.9% were gram-negative bacteria and 21.1% were gram-positive bacteria. The top five types of bacteria were Escherichia coli (20.9%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (18.3%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11.2%), Staphylococcus aureus (9.0%), and Acinetobacter baumannii (7.0%). The isolation rates of common important drug-resistant bacteria were 38.0% for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), 68.7% for carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB), and 38.2% for carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA), 20.1% for carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP), 5.2% for carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli (CRECO), and 2.1% for vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). There were differences in the isolation rates of CRAB and CRKP in clinical care in the elderly population in seven geographical regions of China ( P <0.05). Klebsiella pneumoniae is the most important pathogen in the elderly population ≥85 years old, and the isolation rates of CRKP showed significant differences in different age groups ( P <0.05)., Conclusion: There are significant differences in the drug resistance of pathogenic bacteria in the elderly populations of different regions and age groups in China. Therefore, monitoring the distribution and drug resistance of pathogenic bacteria in the elderly population and formulating targeted treatment plans according to the characteristics of the specific regions and age groups are of great significance to the improvement in the treatment outcomes and prognosis of the elderly population., Competing Interests: 利益冲突　所有作者均声明不存在利益冲突, (© 2024《四川大学学报（医学版）》编辑部 版权所有Copyright ©2024 Editorial Office of Journal of Sichuan University (Medical Sciences).)

Candida haemulonii, a relative of C. auris, frequently shows antifungal resistance and is transmissible. However, molecular tools for genotyping and investigating outbreaks are not yet established. We performed genome-based population analysis on 94 C. haemulonii strains, including 58 isolates from China and 36 other published strains. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that C. haemulonii can be divided into 4 clades. Clade 1 comprised strains from China and other global strains; clades 2-4 contained only isolates from China, were more recently evolved, and showed higher antifungal resistance. Four regional epidemic clusters (A, B, C, and D) were identified in China, each comprising ≥5 cases (largest intracluster pairwise single-nucleotide polymorphism differences <50 bp). Cluster A was identified in 2 hospitals located in the same city, suggesting potential intracity transmissions. Cluster D was resistant to 3 classes of antifungals. The emergence of more resistant phylogenetic clades and regional dissemination of antifungal-resistant C. haemulonii warrants further monitoring.

Background: To investigate the genotype and clinical characteristics of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) strains in southwest China and provide information on the treatment stopping the spread of the infection., Methods: The clinical information of CRE isolates was collected from 19 hospitals in 12 cities across Sichuan Province, China, between June 2018 and April 2019. The isolates were detected by DNA sequencing of genes encoding carbapenem enzymes and multilocus sequence types (MLSTs)., Results: A total of 166 nonrepetitive CRE isolates were isolated during the study period from sputum, blood, urine, and other samples. Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) was dominant in Klebsiella pneumoniae (53.9%), followed by New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM) (42.1%). A total of 43 STs were detected. The most common ST of K. pneumoniae was ST11, and that of Escherichia coli was ST410. Pairwise single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) distances and the likelihood of local transmission by epidemiology were plotted for each species. About 65% of these pairs had ≤ 20 pairwise SNPs., Conclusion: A large number of CRE strains carried carbapenemase. Although NDM-ST12 K. pneumoniae should not be disregarded, KPC-ST11is the predominant strain. Thus, the possibility of transmission between E. coli and K. pneumoniae could not be ignored., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Total laboratory automation (TLA) has the potential to reduce specimen processing time, optimize workflow, and decrease turnaround time (TAT). The purpose of this research is to investigate whether the TAT of our laboratory has changed since the adoption of TLA, as well as to optimize laboratory workflow, improve laboratory testing efficiency, and provide better services of clinical diagnosis and treatment., Materials and Methods: Laboratory data was extracted from our laboratory information system in two 6-month periods: pre-TLA (July to December 2019) and post-TLA (July to December 2020), respectively., Results: The median TAT for positive cultures decreased significantly from pre-TLA to post-TLA (65.93 vs 63.53, P <0.001). For different types of cultures, The TAT of CSF changed the most (86.76 vs 64.30, P =0.007), followed by sputum (64.38 vs 61.41, P <0.001), urine (52.10 vs 49,57, P <0.001), blood (68.49 vs 66.60, P <0.001). For Ascites and Pleural fluid, there was no significant difference ( P >0.05). Further analysis found that the incidence of broth growth only for pre-TLA was 12.4% (14/133), while for post-TLA, it was 3.4% (4/119). The difference was statistically significant ( P =0.01). The common isolates from CSF samples were Cryptococcus neoformans , coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter baumannii , and Klebsiella pneumonia., Conclusion: Using TLA and setting up three shifts shortened the TAT of our clinical microbiology laboratory, especially for CSF samples., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Zhang, Wu, Deng, Liao, Liu, Xiong, Shu, Yuan, Xiao, Ma, Kang, Li and Xie.)

Background: Detection of serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers is important for rapid screening and diagnosis of HBV infection. In this study, the newly launched HISCL-5000 analyzer (Sysmex Corporation, Kobe, Japan) was appraised in parallel with the MODULAR E170 (Roche Diagnostics, Penzberg, Germany), with regard to the detection of serological HBV markers in China for comparing and evaluating their results and capability., Methods: In this study, a total of 5,662 clinical serum samples were tested with the two automated systems. Among them, 1,266 samples were assessed for HBsAg, 1,000 for anti-HBs, 1,301 for HBeAg, 1,007 for anti-HBe, and 1,088 for anti-HBc. Reproducibility performance of HISCL-5000 was assayed four times per day for five days consecutively. For qualitative results between the two analyzers, the concordance rates and kappa coefficients were calculated. Spearman's rank correlation analysis was performed for quantitative results., Results: The HISCL-5000 detection mode showed excellent reproducibility with total CVs of less than 5.0%. Concordance between the two analyzers was 99.92% for HBsAg, 95.90% for anti-HBs, 100% for HBeAg, 99.30% for anti-HBe, and 98.62% for anti-HBc. Kappa values between the qualitative results of five HBV markers were 0.998, 0.906, 1.0, 0.983, and 0.969, respectively. For anti-HBs, linear regression analysis demonstrated a good correlation between HISCL-5000 and MODULAR E170 with an R2 value of 0.887. Spearman's correlation coefficients of 0.892, 0.644, -0.609, and -0.700 were observed for the other four markers, HBsAg, HBeAg, anti-H1Be, anti-HBc, respectively., Conclusions: The newly launched HISCL-5000 displayed high agreement with the more matured MODULAR E170 on screening and diagnosing HBV infection in a clinical laboratory of West China Hospital.

The antibiotic susceptibility of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus-Acinetobacter baumannii complex strains recovered from the intensive care unit (ICU) of West China Hospital, Sichuan, PR China, from 2006 to 2009 was investigated. The identification of A. baumannii and analysis of carbapenemase-encoding genes and their relationship with ISAba1 were performed by PCR. Furthermore, a DiversiLab repetitive extragenic palindromic sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) microbial typing system and a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme were applied to assess the genetic relationship of the isolates. The results showed that the antibiotic susceptibility of the A. calcoaceticus-A. baumannii complex isolates changed and imipenem resistance increased rapidly between 2006 and 2009. The blaOXA-51-like and ISAba1-associated blaOXA-23 genes were prevalent in the imipenem-resistant A. baumannii isolates. However, the blaOXA-58-like gene was found in only one isolate and no metallo-β-lactamase genes were detected. The representative multidrug-resistant A. baumannii isolates were identified as one cluster by rep-PCR fingerprinting and belonged to the clonal complex 92 (CC92) according to MLST. These findings indicate a situation of increasing resistance and wide distribution of class D β-lactamase genes, especially the acquired ISAba1-associated blaOXA-23 gene, in A. baumannii isolates in the ICU of West China Hospital, probably caused by expansion of the CC92 clone.