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Based on the meteorological and hydrological data of the Yalong River Basin from 1960 to 2019, meteorological and hydrological droughts were analyzed using the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and standardized runoff index (SRI); then, the spatio-temporal evolution and propagation characteristics of the droughts were studied on multiple time scales. The results showed that, firstly, on the annual scale, the frequencies of meteorological and hydrological droughts in the basin were 28.3% and 34.0%, respectively, in the past 60 years. From upstream to downstream, the longer the alternating period of dry and wet periods, the more significant the frequency of droughts. Secondly, on a seasonal scale, the frequency of meteorological droughts is high in autumn, and the frequency of hydrological drought is high in autumn and winter. The frequency of drought in different seasons decreases from the upper reaches to the lower reaches of the basin. Thirdly, on a monthly scale, the severe and exceptional meteorological drought frequencies are high from March to May, and the severe and exceptional hydrological drought frequencies are high in January, March, October, and December. The frequency of hydrological droughts is much higher than that of meteorological droughts, especially with respect to severe and exceptional drought. Meteorological and hydrological droughts spread in the same period without lag, but they tend to expand. The propagation time of drought is short in summer and autumn, but long in spring and winter. The conclusions can serve as a decision-making basis for the water diversion planning of the west route of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project and the cascade hydropower operation of the basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sophora tonkinensis Gagnep. (ST) (Fabaceae) is distributed chiefly in south-central and southeast China and Vietnam. In traditional Chinese medicine theory, the root and rhizome of ST are toxic and mainly used in the treatment of pharyngeal and laryngeal diseases. Modern studies provide new insights into the pharmacological and toxicological aspects of ST. The pharmacological and toxicological properties of ST were reviewed in this paper based on the literature from Google Scholar and CNKI, and the bioinformatics platforms were applied to explore the pharmacological and toxicological potentials of ST. The results of the literature analysis showed that ST has hepatoprotective, immunomodulatory, and anticancer effects and produces obvious toxicity to the liver and nervous and cardiovascular system. The results of bioinformatics showed that the compounds from ST may be applied to the treatment of cancer and digestive and nervous system diseases and show the possibility to cause hematotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and immunotoxicity. The present review demonstrates that attention should be paid to the potential toxicity of ST in the treatment of diseases and provides the reference for the subsequent pharmacological toxicological studies on the mechanism and chemical basis of ST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae has been a leading healthcare-acquired infection (HAI) agent worldwide for decades. However, the epidemiological characteristics of K. pneumoniae in lung cancer patients with respiratory infection are unclear. Here, we characterized the frequency of K. pneumoniae in lung cancer patients with respiratory infection in a cancer hospital in China and determined the antibiotic resistance profile, virulence phenotype and clonal relationships among these K. pneumoniae strains. Methods: The clinical data of lung cancer patients with respiratory infection from September 2017 to October 2018 were retrospectively evaluated. Microbiological methods, antimicrobial susceptibility tests, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays, Sanger sequencing and Galleria mellonella larvae infection model were used in this study. Results: During the study period, a total of 47 lung cancer patients with respiratory infection caused by bacteria were identified, among 27 patients were identified as positive for K. pneumoniae and the positive rate was 57.45%. Among 37 nonduplicate K. pneumoniae strains from these 27 patients, 19 isolates (51.4%) were classified as multidrug resistant (MDR) with high-level resistance to, at least one agent in three or more antibiotic categories, including polymyxin B and tigecycline. Sixteen of the 37 strains (43.2%) were hypermucoviscous isolates. Extended spectrum β-lactamases-producing K. pneumoniae strains consisted of two dominant PFGE types. Furthermore, the assessment of virulence potential using a G. mellonella larvae infection model showed that K. pneumoniae isolated from these patients exhibited a high virulence level. Conclusion: Our data showed that K. pneumoniae is the most critical cause of lung infection in patients with lung cancer in this hospital. The various drug resistance and virulence backgrounds of K. pneumoniae may make this clinical center a breeding ground for superbugs. It is paramount to enhance surveillance of K. pneumoniae strains and take control measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the influence of pile replacement ratio on the performance of composite foundation with rigid-flexible piles, lots of static load tests were carried out in Wenzhou. Pressure cells beneath bearing plate were monitored in the static load test. On basis of test results, the composite foundation settlement with different replacement ratios was investigated, and the influences of different replacement ratio on stress, pile-soil stress ratio and pile-soil load sharing ratio were analyzed. Test results indicate that the rigid pile replacement ratio influences settlement characteristics largely, and the settlement is reduced obviously with the increment of rigid pile replacement. Rigid pile plays an important role in the load bearing in composite foundation. The deformation module is reduced with reduction of rigid pile replacement ratio. When the pile replacement ratio is higher, the rigid pile bearing capacity display is smaller, the flexible pile bearing capacity display is bigger, and the soil bearing capacity display is smaller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacillus cereus is a common and ubiquitous foodborne pathogen with an increasing prevalence rate in dairy products in China. High and unmet demands for such products, particularly milk, raise the risk of B. cereus associated contamination. The presence of B. cereus and its virulence factors in dairy products may cause food poisoning and other illnesses. Thus, this review first summarizes the epidemiological characteristics and analytical assays of B. cereus from dairy products in China, providing insights into the implementation of intervention strategies. In addition, the recent achievements on the cytotoxicity and mechanisms of B. cereus are also presented to shed light on the therapeutic options for B. cereus associated infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding of the spatial connections in rainfall is a challenging and essential groundwork for reliable modeling of catchment processes. Recent developments in network theory offer new avenues to understand of the spatial variability of rainfall. The Yellow River Basin (YRB) in China is spatially extensive, with pronounced environmental gradients driven primarily by precipitation and air temperature on broad scales. Therefore, it is an ideal region to examine the availability of network theory. The concepts of clustering coefficient, degree distribution and small-world network are employed to investigate the spatial connections and architecture of precipitation networks in the YRB. The results show that (1) the choice of methods has little effect on the precipitation networks, but correlation thresholds significantly affected vertex degree and clustering coefficient values of precipitation networks; (2) the spatial distribution of the clustering coefficient appears to be high–low–high from southeast to northwest and the vertex degree is the opposite; (3) the precipitation network has small-world properties in the appropriate threshold range. The findings of this paper could help researchers to understand the spatial rainfall connections of the YRB and, therefore, become a foundation for developing a hydrological model in further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To perform a detailed epidemiological study of Chinese women and the relationship between restless legs syndrome (RLS) in pregnancy and any associated complications during delivery.Methods: A total of 3874 pregnant women (18-40 years) who had delivered babies at The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from May 2011 to May 2014 were enrolled in the study. Using a face-to-face interview questionnaire, data were collected pertaining to RLS incidence in pregnancy and any associated complications during delivery. The relationship between RLS frequency and pregnancy or delivery complications was further investigated.Results: Among 12.3% of the eligible participants, RLS prevalence occurred at least weekly. Older pregnant women were more likely to suffer from RLS. Individuals who experienced RLS at least weekly reported a statistically higher frequency of excessive daytime sleepiness and an increased prevalence of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and preeclampsia compared with those without RLS.Conclusion: The study revealed that RLS was frequent in Chinese pregnant women, especially in those with pregnancy or delivery complications such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and preeclampsia. Restless legs syndrome was also associated with excessive daytime sleepiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 1,153 mastitic milk samples were collected from 15 large Chinese dairy farms. • S. aureus , CoNS and Streptococcus spp. were the most commonly isolated bacteria. • Bovine mastitis prevention and control programs should differ in risk factors. The primary objective of this study was to determine the distribution of major pathogens causing mastitis and analyze the association of the main pathogens with the type of milk {milk samples collected from cows with mastitis of different severities, which consisted of subclinical mastitis (Lanzhou Mastitis Test weak positive, positive, and strong positive) and clinical mastitis}, region, season, bedding material, parity and lactation stage on large dairy farms. Fifteen large dairy farms in twelve major milk-producing provinces of China were enrolled in the study for approximately one year; 1,153 mastitis milk samples were collected and processed. The most frequently isolated pathogens were Staphylococcus spp. (39.03 %), Streptococcus spp. (11.01 %), Bacillus spp. (8.24 %), Aerococcus viridans (6.76 %), and Acinetobacter spp. (3.38 %), and most of these pathogens were environmental bacteria (67.53 %). Contagious pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus agalactiae) were more prevalent in milk samples from bovine clinical mastitis cases than in milk samples from bovine subclinical mastitis cases. The percentages of Staphylococcus spp. and Bacillus spp. might be higher in northeastern farms than in farms located in other regions. A higher percentage of Staphylococcus spp. was observed in summer, while a lower proportion of Streptococcus spp. was detected in fall. Streptococcus agalactiae and Streptococcus uberis were more frequently isolated in farms using sand bedding, whereas Staphylococcus aureus , Staphylococcus haemolyticus and Bacillus licheniformis were more prevalent in farms using organic bedding. No obvious associations were found between the main mastitis pathogens and parity or lactation stage. Based on these findings, the dominant pathogens, types of milk, regions, seasons and bedding materials should be considered when designing mastitis prevention and control programs at large Chinese dairy farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The safety assessments of Bacillus probiotics used for human, animal, plant, aquaculture and environment were studied. • The presence of several types of bacterial toxins associating with infectious in certain groups were detected in some Bacillus probiotics. • The presence of mobile antimicrobial resistance genes in Bacillus probiotics indicates a potential threat to One Health. • The safety issues of Bacillus probiotics is not limited to China, but a global problem. Probiotic microbes conferring health benefits to the hosts have attracted great attention. However, the safety of probiotics is not guaranteed, although the increasing widespread use of probiotics with excellent overall safety records. Here, we performed a systematic evaluation of the safety of commercial Bacillus probiotics intended for usage in humans, animals, plants, aquaculture and environment in China. Nearly half of the 65 isolated Bacillus spp. strains from these commercial probiotic products were capable of producing hazardous toxins. Infections with the representative isolates could cause sepsis, intestinal inflammation and liver injury in different mouse models. Additionally, these isolates harbor multiple antimicrobial resistance genes coupled with mobile genetic elements. Collectively, the capability for producing various toxins and harboring mobile antimicrobial resistance genes in Bacillus probiotics indicates a potential risk for One Health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]