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The deciduous tree hickory (Carya cathayensis) holds economic significance in China due to its high oil content, particularly in unsaturated fatty acids. Oil bodies are crucial for storing triacylglycerol (TAG), with caleosin serving as a predominant oil body protein that aids in oil body formation and stability maintenance. Our study utilized bioinformatics techniques to identify caleosin genes within Carya cathayensis, Carya illinoinensis, and Juglans regia. Three caleosin genes were discovered in the genomes of Carya cathayensis, Carya illi-noinensis, and Juglans regia. These genes encode hydrophilic proteins. Additionally, all caleosin proteins feature a single Ca2+-binding EF-hand, a conserved "proline knot" motif, and a C-terminal hydrophilic region with four potential phosphorylation sites. The caleosin proteins in Carya cathayensis consist of α-helix, β-corner, extended chain, and random curl structures. Cis-acting elements related to stress response and hormone signaling were identified in Carya cathayensis, Carya illinoinensis, and Juglans regia, with distinct cis-acting elements implicated in seed-specific regulation in Carya cathayensis. Additionally, subcellular localization analysis confirmed that CcaCLO1 and CcaCLO2 were localized within oil bodies. Transcriptome analysis and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) data demonstrated a significant up-regulation of CcaCLO1 expression during the developmental stages of the Carya cathayensis embryo. Furthermore, qPCR findings indicated that caleosins from Carya cathayensis were responsive to salt stress, with a significant up-regulation of CcaCLO1 following exposure to salt stress treatment. Consequently, caleosin genes in Carya cathayensis, Carya illinoinensis, and Juglans regia share similar physicochemical characteristics and conserved motifs. Specifically, CcaCLO1 in Carya cathayensis primarily responds to embryo development and salt stress. These findings offer foundational insights for future investigations into the regulatory mechanisms of oil accumulation and response to salt stress in hickory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 2000s, scholars have proposed the notion of "world anthropologies" to expose the pluralistic nature of anthropology, and to counter the colonial legacy embedded in knowledge production. This paper discusses how anthropological knowledge in and of China contributes to, is distant from, and challenges, such intellectual movement at both intellectual and institutional levels. First, unlike Western anthropology which shifts from colonialism to liberalism and then to postcolonialism, anthropology in China began with a progressive agenda of anti-colonialism, and then leaned toward liberalism. In the context of China's rise, "China" has been further embroiled in a puzzle of imperialism. This reversed ideological tendency contributes to the disorientation of the critical energy in anthropology focused on China. Second, just as China has taken an active role in the competition for education and research in a globalized, yet uneven academia through discipline construction, anthropology in the West, particularly the United States, has become provincialized in terms of its intellectual agendas. Many of the younger generation of Chinese anthropologists have become stuck in the disjuncture, struggling to channel their critical energy through engaged scholarship, both within and beyond academic institutions. The epistemic politics in and of China, at both the intellectual and institutional levels, reveals that the post-socialist condition deserves to be reference points in world anthropologies. If decolonization posits treating plural standpoints as equal, then being counted in the decolonizing efforts necessitates subscribing to the dominant framework. Thus, more attention to the post-socialist condition, and ultimately the pluralization of the reference points of political potency, should truly pluralize, and ultimately decolonize, anthropology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses aesthetic politics in the Chinese rural toilet revolution. Toilet retrofitting is conventionally regarded as an issue of sanitation improvement, but in the emerging trend of rural post‐productivism transformation, toilets have become contested sites of aesthetic governance in rural development. Using the case of a village in Northern China, the authors show that, in order to beautify the rural environment, toilet identification, selection, placement and demolition are all directed by aesthetic norms for a beautiful village. Additionally, the aestheticization of village development has legitimized state‐led development by creating a common‐sense understanding of and imagination for the future. However, aesthetic logics can represent a mismatch with the realities of local lives, resulting in place alienation and suspended development. This article unpacks the logics, mechanisms and spatial‐social processes of aesthetic governance in the Chinese toilet revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article conceptualizes storytelling as epistemic labor that is critical to the everyday meaning-making and future-making of Chinese rural migrants. Compared to stories told by scholars and migrants turned writers and artists, those told by migrants in a quotidian setting are largely overlooked because of their lack of representational value. However, narratives of success, fortune, and the future that circulate on China's urban fringe are essential in three ways: (1) stories, rather than numbers and calculations, help rural migrants make sense of their economic reality; (2) storytelling allows rural migrants to cope with unexpected events; and (3) stories are often imbued with moral sentiment through which moral boundaries and group identities are established. Overall, epistemic labor makes the present sensible, reality tolerable, and the future imaginable under conditions of hyper-uncertainty in which spatial instability negates routinized time and linear accumulation is denied by dramatic market fluctuations and unpredictable displacement. Epistemic labor proves that migrant agency not only resides in eventful resistance but also in constant negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, Chinese rural migrants have been understood as engaging in dagong 打工 (working for a boss), or the selling of their waged labor, conditioned by the global production chain, dormitory regimes, and exploitive labor relations within and beyond factories. Meanwhile, chuangdang 闯荡 (venturing) as a life project that either opposes or extends dagong has been neglected in scholarly studies. Venturing refers to a spatiotemporal condition defined by the uniqueness of urban villages where rural migrants participate in the informal economy on the urban fringes and attach themselves to entrepreneurship and mobility. It is also a multifaceted presentism produced out of the following spatiotemporal conditions: (1) the sense of urgency to get ahead in spatial temporality; (2) an optimistic relationship with unpredictability; and (3) the technologies of mobility in the name of freedom. By highlighting the dilemmas that propel and hinder rural migrants, this article argues that the cultural politics of venturing are a condition that renders rural migrants economically aggressive, yet politically passive. Thereby, it not only prolongs rural migrants' mobile lives on the urban fringes, but also dampens political actions that claim space through resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Talaromyces marneffei (T. marneffei) infection has been associated with adult-onset immunodeficiency due to anti-IFN-γ autoantibodies. We aimed to investigate the clinical features of non-HIV-infected patients with T. marneffei infection in southern China.Methods: Between January 2018 and September 2020, we enrolled patients with T. marneffei infection who were HIV-negative (group TM, n = 42), including anti-IFN-γ autoantibody-positive (group TMP, n = 22) and anti-IFN-γ autoantibody-negative (group TMN, n = 20) patients and healthy controls (group HC, n = 40). Anti-IFN-γ autoantibodies were detected by ELISA. Clinical characteristics and clinical laboratory parameters were recorded.Results: Compared with anti-IFN-γ autoantibody-negative patients with T. marneffei infection, anti-IFN-γ autoantibody-positive patients did not have underlying respiratory disease; more frequently exhibited dissemination of systemic infections with severe pleural effusion; had higher WBC counts, C-reactive protein levels, erythrocyte sedimentation rates, and neutrophil and CD8+ T cell counts; had lower hemoglobin levels; and were more likely to have other intracellular pathogen infections. Most of these patients had poor outcomes despite standardized antimicrobial therapy.Conclusion: T. marneffei-infected patients with higher anti-IFN-γ autoantibody titers have more severe disease and complex clinical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) caused by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection have caused high mortality of piglets and significant economic losses to the Chinese swine industry. In the current study, 184 specimens from pigs with or without signs of diarrhea were collected from 39 farms across eight provinces, mainly around Hunan, People's Republic of China, in 2017 to 2018 in order to obtain epidemiological information on PEDV infections in these regions. The results indicated an average PEDV-positive rate of 38.04% (70/184) and more-pronounced disease severity in diarrheic pigs (48.76%; 59/121) than in non-diarrheic pigs (17.46%; 11/63). Phylogenetic and sequence analysis demonstrated that 14 representative PEDV strains from 14 swine farms belonged to the G2 group (G2-a and G2-b subgroups) and displayed a high degree of genetic variation. In particular, two out of the 14 PEDV strains were found to have unique indels in the S1 gene. The strain HN-SY-2017-Oct had a 9-nucleotide (T1152GAAGCCAAT1160T) insertion, and the strain ZJ-2018-May had a 3-nucleotide (AAA) deletion at position 1126 in the S1 gene. A three-dimensional structural prediction revealed that these unique insertions might lengthen the loop on the surface or increase the likelihood of the surface protein being phosphorylated at 388Y, thereby affecting the virulence or pathogenicity of PEDV. Collectively, the data show that PED remains a severe threat to the pig industry and that variant PEDV stains are circulating in China. The updated PEDV epidemiological data will facilitate the design of PEDV vaccines and the application of effective measures for PED prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decades, urban villages proliferate in major cities of China. These marginalised places not only are home to many local villagers, but also host millions of rural migrants. This paper provides an ethnographic account of the spatial and social production of Chinese urban villages. It discusses urban village residents’ detailed tactics in developing/participating in the informal housing market, service market and labour market. By so doing, it emphasises people’s agency in making their own living spaces and further challenges the marginalisation paradigm that either victimises or disparages urban village residents. It shows peasants, who are commonly assumed to be the antithesis of modernisation and urbanisation, are major actors and urbanise their living spaces. This paper also elaborates on the types of governing strategies at the village and municipal levels. It points out that the contradictions and loopholes in state power have left space for the formation of informal markets and contribute to the making of urban villages in contemporary China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores informal science education (ISE) for rural migrant children in the Chinese context. Many of them are restricted from the public schools due to political exclusions enforced by the household registration system and their economic standing. As a result, they are often enrolled in quasi-legal migrant children schools with limited access to education in science. In response, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have stepped in to implement ISE projects. Applying gift exchange theory to organized non-profit undertakings, I examine three types of ISE programs and their ways of reinforcing a neoliberal logic of competition, selfresponsibility and self-governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the correlations between the incidence of tuberculosis and meteorological factors over the same period and previous periods including 1, 2 and 3 years ago, defined according to the Chinese medicine theory of five circuits (Wu Yun) and six qi, to establish medical-meteorological forecast models for the Beijing area of China. Methods: Data regarding the incidence of tuberculosis between 1990 and 2004 were obtained from the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the data regarding the meteorological factors (including daily average temperatures, wind speeds, precipitations, relative humidities, vapor pressures and low cloud covers) between 1987 and 2004 were collected from the Beijing Meteorological Observatory and analyzed. Descriptive statistics and a back-propagation artificial neural network were adopted to analyze the data. Results: There were significant correlations between the incidence of tuberculosis and the meteorological factors in the corresponding year and previous years. Among these correlations, wind speed was the factor with the strongest inflfl uence on tuberculosis (the standardized significance was 100%). Additionally, all prediction models would successfully established, suggesting the use of a collection of meteorological factors spanning from three years ago to the present is superior to the use of single data. Conclusions: The incidence of tuberculosis in Beijing area is correlated to meteorological factors in the current year and previous years, which verifies the practicality of the theory of five circuits and six qi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Northeast area of China is a cross region between East Asia and Siberia. Although five populations from this area have been studied in maternal lineage, little is known about the genetics of other populations. In this study, forty-seven Manchu individuals were analyzed using a mitochondrial DNA marker, and fourteen mitochondrial DNA haplogroups, the representative haplogroups of east Eurasian, were identified. All analyses showed that Manchu were close to the neighboring populations such as Mongolian, Korean and northern Han Chinese, and were far from the other populations who lived in the cradle of Manchu, suggesting that the Manchu integrated gradually with natives following its southward migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in China in 2018 caused substantial economic losses to the swine industry. To accurately diagnose clinical infection with ASF virus (ASFV), we developed a TaqMan probe-based duplex real-time PCR that simultaneously detected two discontinuous genes in the virus genome, thereby preventing the inaccurate results obtained with only one reaction. Two sets of ASFV gene-specific primers, along with two fluorescent TaqMan probes were designed to target conserved regions of the B646L and B438L genes. This method had high sensitivity and specificity, with a limit of detection of 10 copies/μL, and it did not cross-react with the genomes of other viral pathogens that affect pigs (i.e., CSFV, PRRSV, PEDV, PRV, PPV and PCV2). Overall, 180 clinical samples from ASFV-infected pig farms were used to compare this method with a commercial kit, which yielded excellent consistency (98.3%). This new diagnostic method should greatly improve the efficiency of ASFV surveillance and reduce economic losses, providing benefits for both animal and public health. • A developed real-time PCR assay detect two discontinuous ASFV genes. • The duplex real-time PCR assay could prevent inaccurate results in one reaction. • This method is specific for ASFV and showed high sensitivity. • The assay has a best instrument suitability. • A useful tool for controlling swine infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High N-fertilizer applications to conventional vegetable production systems are associated with substantial emissions of NH 3 , a key substance that triggers haze pollution and ecosystem eutrophication and thus, causing considerable damage to human and ecosystem health. While N fertilization effects on NH 3 volatilization from cereal crops have been relatively well studied, little is known about the magnitude and yield-scaled emissions of NH 3 from vegetable systems. Here we report on a 2-year field study investigating the effect of various types and rates of fertilizer application on NH 3 emissions and crop yields for a pepper-lettuce-cabbage rotation system in southwest China. Our results show that both NH 3 emissions and direct emission factors of applied N varied largely across seasons over the 2-year period, highlighting the importance of measurements spanning entire cropping years. Across all treatments varying from solely applying urea fertilizers to only using organic manures, annual NH 3 emissions ranged from 0.64 to 92.4 kg N ha−1 yr−1 (or 0.07–6.84 g N kg−1 dry matter), equivalent to 0.05–5.99% of the applied N. At annual scale, NH 3 emissions correlated positively with soil δ15N values, indicating that soil δ15N may be used as an indicator for NH 3 losses. NH 3 emissions from treatments fertilized partially or fully with manure were significantly lower compared with the urea fertilized treatment, while vegetable yields remained unaffected. Moreover, full substitution of urea by manure as compared to the partial substitution further reduced the yield-scaled annual NH 3 emissions by 79.0–92.4%. Across all vegetable seasons, there is a significant negative relationship between yield-scaled NH 3 emissions and crop N use efficiency. Overall, our results suggest that substituting urea by manure and reducing total N inputs by 30–50% allows to reduce NH 3 emissions without jeopardizing yields. Such a change in management provides a feasible option to achieve environmental sustainability and food security in conventional vegetable systems. [Display omitted] • Annual NH 3 emissions markedly varied with N fertilizer types and application rates. • Annual emission factors of NH 3 were with 0.05–5.99%, greatly lower as IPCC defaults. • Increases in soil δ15N values were positively correlated with annual NH 3 emissions. • Manure amendment-induced changes in NH 3 correlated negatively with organic N rates. • Fully substituting urea with manure resulted in lowest yield-scaled NH 3 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-interferon-γ autoantibody (AIGA) syndrome may be the basis of disseminated Talaromyces marneffei infection in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative adults. However, the pathogenesis of Th1 cell immunity in T. marneffei infection with AIGA syndrome is unknown. A multicenter study of HIV-negative individuals with T. marneffei infection was conducted between September 2018 and September 2020 in Guangdong and Guangxi, China. Patients were divided into AIGA-positive (AP) and AIGA-negative (AN) groups according to the AIGA titer and neutralizing activity. The relationship between AIGA syndrome and Th1 immune deficiency was investigated by using AP patient serum and purification of AIGA. Fifty-five HIV-negative adults with disseminated T. marneffei infection who were otherwise healthy were included. The prevalence of AIGA positivity was 83.6%. Based on their AIGA status, 46 and 9 patients were assigned to the AP and AN groups, respectively. The levels of Th1 cells, IFN-γ, and T-bet were higher in T. marneffei -infected patients than in healthy controls. However, the levels of CD4 + T-cell STAT-1 phosphorylation (pSTAT1) and Th1 cells were lower in the AP group than in the AN group. Both the serum of patients with AIGA syndrome and the AIGA purified from the serum of patients with AIGA syndrome could reduce CD4 + T-cell pSTAT1, Th1 cell differentiation and T-bet mRNA, and protein expression. The Th1 cell immune response plays a pivotal role in defense against T. marneffei infection in HIV-negative patients. Inhibition of the Th1 cell immune response may be an important pathological effect of AIGA syndrome.IMPORTANCEThe pathogenesis of Th1 cell immunity in Talaromyces marneffei infection with anti-interferon-γ autoantibody (AIGA) syndrome is unknown. This is an interesting study addressing an important knowledge gap regarding the pathogenesis of T. marneffei in non-HIV positive patients; in particular patients with AIGA. The finding of the Th1 cell immune response plays a pivotal role in defense against T. marneffei infection in HIV-negative patients, and inhibition of the Th1 cell immune response may be an important pathological effect of AIGA syndrome, which presented in this research could help bridge the current knowledge gap., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Urbanization shows continuous expansion and development, ushering in the co-evolution of urban environments and vegetation over time. Recent remote sensing-based studies have discovered prevalent vegetation growth enhancement in urban environments. However, whether there is a temporal evolution of the growth enhancement remains unknown and unexplored. Here we expanded the existing framework for assessing the long-term impact of urbanization on vegetation greenness (enhanced vegetation index, EVI) using long time series of remote sensing images and applied it in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan province in China. Results showed that vegetation growth experienced widespread enhancement from 2000 to 2017, and increased 1.8 times from 2000 to 2017, suggesting strong continuous adaptive capability of vegetation to urban conditions. Although the overall impact of urbanization was negative due to the replacement of vegetated surfaces, the growth enhancement nevertheless offset or compensated the direct loss of vegetated cover during urbanization in the magnitude of 28 % in 2000 to 44 % in 2017. Our study also revealed large spatial heterogeneity in vegetation growth response among various districts at different urbanization levels and found an emergent trend under the observed spatial heterogeneity toward an asymptotic maximum with urbanization, showing EVI converges to 0.22 in highly urbanized areas. We further found that the positive effect of urbanization on vegetation growth is a function of urbanization intensity and time, which implies that the effect of the urban environment on vegetation can be simulated and predicted, and can be verified in more cities in the future. Our study is the first to successfully quantify long-term spatial patterns on the co-evolution of urbanization and vegetation, providing a new understanding of the continuous adaptive responses of vegetation growth to urbanization and shedding light on predicting biological responses to future environmental change., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal, or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the work submitted that might inappropriately influence, or be perceived as influencing, their work., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Urban turfgrass ecosystems are expected to increase at unprecedented rates in upcoming decades, due to the increasing population density and urban sprawl worldwide. However, so far urban turfgrasses are among the least understood of all terrestrial ecosystems concerning their impact on biogeochemical N cycling and associated nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and nitric oxide (NO) fluxes. In this study, we aimed to characterize and quantify annual N 2 O and NO fluxes from urban turfgrasses dominated by either C4, warm-season species or C3, cool-season and shade-enduring species, based on year-round field measurements in Beijing, China. Our results showed that soil N 2 O and NO fluxes varied substantially within the studied year, characterizing by higher emissions during the growing season and lower fluxes during the non-growing season. The regression model fitted by soil temperature and soil water content explained approximately 50%-70% and 31%-38% of the variance in N 2 O and NO fluxes, respectively. Annual cumulative emissions for all urban turfgrasses ranged from 0.75 to 1.27 kg N ha -1 yr -1 for N 2 O and from 0.30 to 0.46 kg N ha -1 yr -1 for NO, both are generally higher than those of Chinese natural grasslands. Non-growing season fluxes contributed 17%-37% and 23%-30% to the annual budgets of N 2 O and NO, respectively. Our results also showed that compared to the cool-season turfgrass, annual N 2 O and NO emissions were greatly reduced by the warm-season turfgrass, with the high root system limiting the availability of inorganic N substrates to soil microbial processes of nitrification and denitrification. This study indicates the importance of enhanced N retention of urban turfgrasses through the management of effective species for alleviating the potential environmental impacts of these rapidly expanding ecosystems., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The aims of this study were to highlight some epidemiological aspects of intussusception cases younger than 48 months and to develop a forecasting model for the occurrence of intussusception in children younger than 48 months in Suzhou., Design: A retrospective study of intussusception cases that occurred between January 2007 and December 2017., Setting: Retrospective chart reviews of intussusception paediatric patients in a large Children's hospital in South-East China were performed., Participants: The hospital records of 13 887 intussusception cases in patients younger than 48 months were included in this study., Interventions: The modelling process was conducted using the appropriate module in SPSS V.23.0., Methods: The Box-Jenkins approach was used to fit a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model to the monthly recorded intussusception cases in patients younger than 48 months in Suzhou from 2007 to 2016., Results: Epidemiological analysis revealed that intussusception younger than 48 months was reported continuously throughout the year, with peaks in the late spring and early summer months. The most affected age group was younger than 36 months. The time-series analysis showed that an ARIMA (1,0,1 1,1,1) 12 model offered the best fit for surveillance data of intussusception younger than 48 months. This model was used to predict intussusception younger than 48 months for the year 2017, and the fitted data showed considerable agreement with the actual data., Conclusion: ARIMA models are useful for monitoring intussusception in patients younger than 48 months and provide an estimate of the variability to be expected in future cases in Suzhou. The models are helpful for predicting intussusception cases in Suzhou and could be useful for developing early warning systems. They may also play a key role in early detection, timely treatment and prevention of serious complications in cases of intussusception., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate factors affecting the operating time for complete cyst excision and Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy in paediatric cases of congenital choledochal malformation (CCM)., Design: A 3-year retrospective study was undertaken between January 2013 and December 2015 in four centres in China., Setting: This involved a retrospective chart review of paediatric patients with CCM in four large hospitals in Southeast China., Participants: Sixty-five paediatric patients with CCM were included in this study. We derived all available information on patient demographics, clinical characteristics, preoperative complications and surgical methods from the charts of all these patients., Interventions: Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate factors significantly affecting the operating time for complete cyst excision and Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy in paediatric cases of CCM., Results: Twenty-three of the 65 case surgeries were performed using laparoscopic technique, and 42 surgeries were performed by conventional open surgery. The median operating time was 215 min (range 120-430 min). The morphological subtype of CCM and the presence of cholecystitis or cholangitis were the only factors found to affect the operating time (p<0.05). Logistic regression analysis confirmed cholangitis as an independent risk factor., Conclusions: The morphological subtype of CMM and the presence of cholecystitis or cholangitis are factors affecting the operating time for complete cyst excision and Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy in paediatric cases of CCM, whereas cholangitis is an independent risk factor., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is the pivotal pathogen causing porcine circovirus-associated diseases. In this study, 62 PCV2 isolates were identified from seven farms in southern China from 2013 to 2015 and phylogenetic trees were reconstructed based on whole-genome sequences or the cap gene. In this investigation, PCV2b was the main genotype in circulation throughout these farms. Furthermore, an emerging mutant (PCV2b-1C), isolated from PCV2-vaccinated farms, was the predominant strain prevalent on these farms. In addition, we isolated a new cluster that may represent evolution of the virus through recombination of PCV2b-1A/1B and PCV2b-1C. Finally, we discuss evidence that antigenicity and surface structure variation of the capsid resulted from mutation of the C-terminal loop (Loop CT) of the PCV2b-1C Cap in silico.

Aim: To study the clinical efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) intervention "tonifying the kidney to promote liver regeneration and repair by affecting stem cells and their microenvironment" ("TTK") for treating liver failure due to chronic hepatitis B., Methods: We designed the study as a randomized controlled clinical trial. Registration number of Chinese Clinical Trial Registry is ChiCTR-TRC-12002961. A total of 144 patients with liver failure due to infection with chronic hepatitis B virus were enrolled in this randomized controlled clinical study. Participants were randomly assigned to the following three groups: (1) a modern medicine control group (MMC group, 36 patients); (2) a "tonifying qi and detoxification" ("TQD") group (72 patients); and (3) a "tonifying the kidney to promote liver regeneration and repair by affecting stem cells and their microenvironment" ("TTK") group (36 patients). Patients in the MMC group received general internal medicine treatment; patients in the "TQD" group were given a TCM formula "tonifying qi and detoxification" and general internal medicine treatment; patients in the "TTK" group were given a TCM formula of "TTK" and general internal medicine treatment. All participants were treated for 8 wk and then followed at 48 wk following their final treatment. The primary efficacy end point was the patient fatality rate in each group. Measurements of various virological and biochemical indicators served as secondary endpoints. The one-way analysis of variance and the t-test were used to compare patient outcomes in the different treatment groups., Results: At the 48-wk post-treatment time point, the patient fatality rates in the MMC, "TQD", and "TTK" groups were 51.61%, 35.38%, and 16.67%, respectively, and the differences between groups were statistically significant (P < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in the levels of hepatitis B virus DNA or prothrombin activity among the three groups (P > 0.05). Patients in the "TTK" group had significantly higher levels of serum total bilirubin compared to MMC subjects (339.40 μmol/L ± 270.09 μmol/L vs 176.13 μmol/L ± 185.70 μmol/L, P = 0.014). Serum albumin levels were significantly increased in both the "TQD" group and "TTK" group as compared with the MMC group (31.30 g/L ± 4.77 g/L, 30.72 g/L ± 2.89 g/L vs 28.57 g/L ± 4.56 g/L, P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in levels of alanine transaminase among the three groups (P > 0.05). Safety data showed that there was one case of stomachache in the "TQD" group and one case of gastrointestinal side effect in the "TTK" group., Conclusion: Treatment with "TTK" improved the survival rates of patients with liver failure due to chronic hepatitis B. Additionally, liver tissue was regenerated and liver function was restored.

Human adenoviruses have been used to develop candidate HIV vaccine vectors, but a major obstacle to the use of vectors derived from Ad5 and other common serotypes is the high prevalence of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) in humans. Prior studies have reported a prevalence of Ad5 between 60% and 70% in Europe and US, and up to 98% in surveyed African and Asian (Thai) tropical countries. However, few studies have reported on the Ad5 prevalence in Chinese populations. In this study, a total of 1,250 healthy adult serum samples from six administratively separate regions of China were screened by high-throughput luciferase-based virus neutralization assays. Results showed that overall 72% of healthy adults were Ad5 seropositive, and 46.4% with baseline Ad5 NAb titers of >200 in China. Comprehensive analysis by geographical region and age showed that the seroprevalence of Ad5 in southern China such as Guangxi was higher than that in other regions. Geographical differences and climate were considered as the major factors affecting the titer levels of Ad5 in healthy adults. In addition, no apparent gender and ethnic difference was found in any group classified according to region, age, or NAb titer. The present study may provide useful insights for the future development of Ad5-based vaccines and gene therapy., (Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Comparisons of the clinical characteristics of contemporaneous pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza A virus (A(H1N1)pdm09)- and seasonal influenza viruses-infected patients are important for both clinical management and epidemiological studies. A prospective multicenter observational study was conducted using a preestablished sentinel surveillance system in Guangzhou, China during 2009. In this study, the clinical presentations of patients with either acute respiratory infection or community-acquired pneumonia were recorded, and nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected for detection of respiratory virus strains using cell cultures or real-time reverse transcription/real-time polymerase chain reaction. Comparisons of the clinical features between A(H1N1)pdm09- and seasonal influenza viruses-infected patients were conducted accordingly. Of the 1,498 patients examined, 265 tested positive for A(H1N1)pdm09, 286 were positive for seasonal influenza A viruses, and 137 for influenza B viruses. The predominant virus was influenza B before the emergence of A(H1N1)pdm09 (epidemiological week [EW] 1-EW 21); then, predominantly non-A(H1N1)pdm09 influenza A and, later, A(H1N1)pdm09, which peaked in EW 46. Compared with the common seasonal influenza-infected patients, A(H1N1)pdm09-infected patients were younger, and had a higher proportion of these patients reported prior contact with infected individuals (P < 0.001, by χ(2) test). However, few significant differences were observed in clinical symptoms and severity among any of the infections caused by the different influenza A strains. Our hospital-based network served as a useful source of information during A(H1N1)pdm09 monitoring. Viral distribution in Guangzhou was characterized by a sharp rise in A(H1N1)pdm09-infected patients in September 2009. Similar to seasonal influenza A-infected cases, A(H1N1)pdm09 cases had a very small proportion of severe cases.

Objective: To study the prevalence of adamantane-resistance among influenza A viruses isolated from Guangzhou between January and October in 2009, and to provide more information for clinical usage of adamantane drugs., Methods: Totally 311 influenza A strains isolated from 6 hospitals in Guangzhou between January and October in 2009 were selected, and the MP gene of all 311 strains (159 strains of H1 subtype, 152 strains of H3 subtype) was sequenced. The susceptibility of viruses to rimantadine was assayed by biological methods in cells., Result: A hundred and forty-eight strains of influenza A (H1) viruses (93.1%, 148/159) were resistant to the adamantanes, and all the 152 influenza A (H3) viruses were resistant to the adamantanes. An amino acid substitution S31N was found in most of the strains except 1 strain with double mutation V27A/S31N. Furthermore, the M gene of influenza A (H1) viruses was divided into genotype B (human) (97/159) and genotype F (European and Australian birds, 62/159), while the M gene of influenza A (H3) viruses was genotype B (human) (152/152)., Conclusion: Resistance rate of seasonal influenza A viruses isolated from Guangzhou was high. The MP gene of influenza A (H1) may be replaced by a gene from European and Australian birds through a reassortment event.

Objective: This study was undertaken to describe the viral etiology and clinical features in patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) in Guangzhou., Methods: The nasopharyngeal and throat swabs were collected from 882 patients presenting with ILI between January and September, 2009. Viral pathogens were cultured and identified by immunofluorescence technique using the Shell-Vial method. The clinical data were statistically analyzed., Results: (1) Viral etiology. Of the 882 samples, 385 (43.7%) were confirmed to have at least one of the 9 different respiratory viruses detected. Among these viral isolates, 67.3% (259/385) were seasonal influenza A virus, 27.8% (107/385) were influenza B virus, and 1.3% (5/385) were human parainfluenza virus (PHIV) 1, 2, or 3. In addition, 2 cases (0.5%) of each adenovirus, HSV-1, enterovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were also found in the samples. Co-infections with more than one virus were revealed in 8 (2.1%) of 385 samples tested, among them 6 samples were mixture of influenza A and influenza B, 1 sample was positive for both influenza B virus and HPIV-3, and 1 was for both adenovirus and RSV. Seasonal influenza B virus appeared endemic between March and May, and seasonal influenza A virus became dominant between June and August. (2) Clinical features. The percentage of patients aged from 18-30 years was much higher than that of other age groups. The most common symptoms were moderate fever and sore throat, followed by cough. The percentage of upper respiratory infection and pneumonia was 88.4% (727/882) and 10.7% (95/882) respectively. Clinical features did not discriminate between patients with seasonal influenza A and those with influenza B virus infection. The average numbers of leukocytes and lymphocytes were lower in the group positive for influenza viruses than in virus negative group. The patients with adenovirus, HPIV and RSV infection were significantly younger. No rash was observed in patients with enterovirus or HSV infection., Conclusions: (1) Seasonal influenza virus was the major viral etiologic agent of ILI in Guangzhou during the first 9 months in 2009. Influenza B and A viruses seasonally prevailed in spring and summer, respectively, while other viral etiologic agents appeared to be sporadic. (2) The analysis of clinical features in patients with ILI indicated that fever was the most common symptom, with body temperature varying greatly, and may be associated with evident respiratory and occasionally systemic symptoms. Among the cases with viral infection, the upper respiratory presentation was universal, and pneumonia was frequently noticed.