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Background: Growing evidence suggests an independent relationship between habitual snoring and metabolic abnormalities. Currently, there are few data available on the association between snoring and hyperuricemia. Therefore, we evaluated the cross-sectional association between snoring and serum uric acid (UA) concentration and ascertain the effects of different snoring intensities on hyperuricemia among Chinese urban adults in Nanjing.Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study including 7699 participants (4197 men and 3502 women) from Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital aged ≥18 years over a two year (ie, 2016-2018) period. All participants were divided into four groups based on Snoring scores. Questionnaires, physical examinations and biochemical tests were conducted. Hyperuricemia was defined as levels of serum UA > 6.8 mg/dL in males and >6.0 mg/dL in females. We used a generalized linear model to investigate the association between snoring and serum UA concentration and logistic regression model to investigate the association between snoring and likelihood of having hyperuricemia in the age-, sex-adjusted model and in a multivariable model adjusting for demographic factor, plasma lipid profiles, blood glucose, blood pressure, smoking, and alcohol consumption.Results: The prevalence of hyperuricemia was 10.05% in the studied population and gradually increased across the snoring scores (P < 0.0001). We found that mild snoring, moderate, and severe snoring intensity were associated with high serum UA in the age-, sex-adjusted model and in a multivariable model adjusting for demographic and lifestyle/behavioral risk factors. The association was insisted with the addition of variables related to clinical outcomes such as diabetes, hypertension, and high-cholesterol levels.Conclusions: Our results showed self-reported habitual snoring was associated with higher serum UA concentration among Chinese urban adults. Findings of this study indicate the significance of early detection and treatment of snoring to prevent hyperuricemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coxiella burnetii (Cb) is the causative agent of the zoonotic disease Q fever which is distributed worldwide. Molecular typing of Cb strains is essential to find out the infectious source and prevent Q fever outbreaks, but there has been a lack of typing data for Cb strains in China. The aim of this study was to investigate the genotypes of Cb strains in wild rats in Yunnan Province, China. Results: Eighty-six wild rats (Rattus flavipectus) were collected in Yunnan Province and 8 of the 86 liver samples from the wild rats were positive in Cb-specific quantitative PCR (qPCR). The Cb strains from the 8 rats were then typed into 3 genotypes using 10-spacer multispacer sequence typing (MST), and 2 of the 3 genotypes were recognized as novel ones. Moreover, the Cb strains in the wild rats were all identified as genotype 1 using 6-loci multilocus variable number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA). Conclusions: This is the first report of genotypic diversity of Cb strains from wild rats in China. Further studies are needed to explore the presence of more genotypes and to associate the genotypes circulating in the wildlife-livestock interaction with those causing human disease to further expand on the epidemiological aspects of the pathogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hard ticks act as arthropod vectors in the transmission of human and animal pathogens and are widely distributed in northern China. The aim of this study is to screen the important tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) carried by hard ticks in Inner Mongolia using metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and to estimate the risk of human infection imposed by tick bites. Methods: The adult Dermacentor nuttalli (n = 203) and Ixodes persulcatus (n = 36) ticks feeding on cattle were collected. The pooled DNA samples prepared from these ticks were sequenced as the templates for mNGS to survey the presence of TBPs at the genus level. Individual tick DNA samples were detected by genus--specific or group-specific nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of these TBPs and combined with DNA sequencing assay to confirm the results of mNGS. Results: R. raoultii (45.32%, 92/203), Candidatus R. tarasevichiae (5.42%, 11/203), Anaplasma sp. Mongolia (26.60%, 54/203), Coxiella-like endosymbiont (CLE) (53.69%, 109/203), and Babesia venatorum (7.88%, 16/203) were detected in D. nuttalli, while R. raoultii (30.56%, 11/36), Anaplasma sp. Mongolia (27.80%, 10/36), and CLE (27.80%, 10/36) were detected in I. persulcatus. The double- and triple-pathogen/endosymbiont co-infections were detected in 40.39% of D. nuttalli and 13.89% of I. persulcatus, respectively. The dual co-infection with R. raoultii and CLE (14.29%, 29/203) and triple co-infection with R. raoultii, Anaplasma sp. Mongolia, and CLE (13.79%, 28/203) were most frequent in D. nuttalli. Conclusions: This study provides insight into the microbial diversity of D. nuttalli and I. persulcatus in Inner Mongolia, China, reporting for the first time that Candidatus R. tarasevichiae had been found in D. nuttalli in China, and for the first time in the world that Anaplasma sp. Mongolia has been detected in I. persulcatus. This study proves that various vertically transmitted pathogens co-inhabit D. nuttalli and I. persulcatus, and indicates that cattle in Inner Mongolia are exposed to several TBPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pantoea agglomerans YS19 is a diazotrophic endophyte isolated from rice ( Oryza sativa cv. Yuefu) grown in a temperate-climatic region in west Beijing (China). The colonization of YS19 on host rice was studied in this paper. It was revealed that YS19 colonizes in all the tissues of rice seedlings, including roots (dominantly at elongation regions, lateral root junctions, root hairs and root caps), stems and leaves. More YS19 colonizes in stem and leaves (1.40 × 105 CFU mg−1 fresh weight) than that in roots (3.60 × 104 CFU mg−1). Symplasmata, a kind of adaptive structure of the strain for its endophytic living, were repeatedly observed to form inside root or stem cortex parenchyma tissues, as well as on leaf surfaces and also rhizoplanes. A novel matrix protein (SPM43.1) with its expression paralleling to the formation of symplasmata was captured, whose meaning in structural construction of symplasmata was also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hard ticks act as arthropod vectors in the transmission of human and animal pathogens and are widely distributed in northern China. The aim of this study is to screen the important tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) carried by hard ticks in Inner Mongolia using metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and to estimate the risk of human infection imposed by tick bites. Methods: The adult Dermacentor nuttalli (n = 203) and Ixodes persulcatus (n = 36) ticks feeding on cattle were collected. The pooled DNA samples prepared from these ticks were sequenced as the templates for mNGS to survey the presence of TBPs at the genus level. Individual tick DNA samples were detected by genus--specific or group-specific nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of these TBPs and combined with DNA sequencing assay to confirm the results of mNGS. Results: R. raoultii (45.32%, 92/203), Candidatus R. tarasevichiae (5.42%, 11/203), Anaplasma sp. Mongolia (26.60%, 54/203), Coxiella-like endosymbiont (CLE) (53.69%, 109/203), and Babesia venatorum (7.88%, 16/203) were detected in D. nuttalli, while R. raoultii (30.56%, 11/36), Anaplasma sp. Mongolia (27.80%, 10/36), and CLE (27.80%, 10/36) were detected in I. persulcatus. The double- and triple-pathogen/endosymbiont co-infections were detected in 40.39% of D. nuttalli and 13.89% of I. persulcatus, respectively. The dual co-infection with R. raoultii and CLE (14.29%, 29/203) and triple co-infection with R. raoultii, Anaplasma sp. Mongolia, and CLE (13.79%, 28/203) were most frequent in D. nuttalli. Conclusions: This study provides insight into the microbial diversity of D. nuttalli and I. persulcatus in Inner Mongolia, China, reporting for the first time that Candidatus R. tarasevichiae had been found in D. nuttalli in China, and for the first time in the world that Anaplasma sp. Mongolia has been detected in I. persulcatus. This study proves that various vertically transmitted pathogens co-inhabit D. nuttalli and I. persulcatus, and indicates that cattle in Inner Mongolia are exposed to several TBPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]