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Background: Few epidemiological studies have explored the effects of air pollution on the risk of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). Objective: To investigate the short and long term residential concentrations of ambient air pollutants (particulate matter

Abstract Background Modulation of the immune system is one of the principal roles of Vitamin D, for which the effects are exerted via the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Importantly, variants in the VDR gene have been susceptible in the past to raise the risk of asthma in several populations. These effects of VDR allelic markers remain speculative in the Chinese Han population. Results A case-control study of 1090 individuals including 567 asthmatic patients was realized on five SNPs within the VDR gene. Only rs7975232 (ApaI) marker showed a significant association with asthma (P = 0.009). Haplotype analysis of the five VDR polymorphisms showed a significant association with asthma (global-p value = 0.012). Conclusion Although the susceptibility of VDR gene variants with asthma could not be confirmed for all SNPs tested in this study, the significant association obtained for rs7975232 provides evidence for a previously unknown report about the Chinese Han population and may raise the susceptibility of VDR to be a candidate gene for asthma.

Abstract Background Mutation in SPINK5 causes Netherton syndrome, a rare recessive skin disease that is accompanied by severe atopic manifestations including atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, asthma, high serum IgE and hypereosinophilia. Recently, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the SPINK5 was shown to be significantly associated with atopy, atopic dermatitis, asthma, and total serum IgE. In order to determine the role of the SPINK5 in the development of asthma, a case-control study including 669 asthma patients and 711 healthy controls in Han Chinese was conducted. Methods Using PCR-RFLP assay, we genotyped one promoter SNP, -206G>A, and four nonsynonymous SNPs, 1103A>G (Asn368Ser), 1156G>A (Asp386Asn), 1258G>A (Glu420Lys), and 2475G>T (Glu825Asp). Also, we analyzed the functional significance of -206G>A using the luciferase reporter assay and electrophoresis mobility shift assay. Results we found that the G allele at SNP -206G>A was associated with increased asthma susceptibility in our study population (p = 0.002, odds ratio 1.34, 95% confidence interval 1.11–1.60). There was no significant association between any of four nonsynonymous SNPs and asthma. The A allele at -206G>A has a significantly higher transcriptional activity than the G allele. Electrophoresis mobility shift assay also showed a significantly higher binding efficiency of nuclear protein to the A allele compared with the G allele. Conclusion Our findings indicate that the -206G>A polymorphism in the SPINK5 is associated with asthma susceptibility in a Chinese Han population.

To determine the association between daily air pollution and the hospital admissions for respiratory diseases in children aged from 0 to 17 years in Jinan, China. Generalized linear models were used to explore the acute effects of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on the children's hospital admissions for respiratory diseases. We evaluated the lag associations (including lag 0 to lag 3, lag 01, and lag 03) between daily PM2.5 and the number of children's hospital admissions for respiratory diseases, and stratified by gender, age group (baby group: age 0–1 years; child group: age 1–5 years; student group: age 6–17 years), and cause-specific disease (including upper infection, pneumonia, and acute bronchitis) during 2011–2015. PM2.5 had significant positive impacts on the number of children's hospital admissions for respiratory disease. The results showed that per 10 μg/m3 increase of PM2.5 at lag 1 was associated with an increase in total and male hospital admissions of 0.23% (95% CI, 0.02%–0.45%) and 0.32% (95% CI, 0.04%–0.06%). The corresponding risk of the student group (age 6–17 years) hospital admissions was increased 0.90% (95% CI, 0.39%–1.42%) at lag 1 day. The corresponding risk of the upper infection was increased 0.96% (95% CI, 0.37–1.55%) at lag 1 day. Males and student groups (age 6–17 years) were more vulnerable to PM2.5 exposure. Upper infection admission was identified as the sensitive disease for children. It is a better way to reduce children's outdoor activities to avoid health effects when the air pollution increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The toxin-antitoxin (TA) system plays a vital role in the virulence and pathogenicity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( M. tuberculosis ). However, the regulatory mechanisms and the impact of gene mutations on M. tuberculosis transmission remain poorly understood., Objective: To investigate the influence of gene mutations in the toxin-antitoxin system on M. tuberculosis transmission dynamics., Method: We performed whole-genome sequencing on the analyzed strains of M. tuberculosis . The genes associated with the toxin-antitoxin system were obtained from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Gene database. Mutations correlating with enhanced transmission within the genes were identified by using random forest, gradient boosting decision tree, and generalized linear mixed models., Results: A total of 13,518 M. tuberculosis isolates were analyzed, with 42.29% ( n  = 5,717) found to be part of genomic clusters. Lineage 4 accounted for the majority of isolates ( n  = 6488, 48%), followed by lineage 2 ( n  = 5133, 37.97%). 23 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) showed a positive correlation with clustering, including vapB1 G34A, vapB24 A76C, vapB2 T171C, mazF2 C85T, mazE2 G104A, vapB31 T112C, relB T226A, vapB11 C54T, mazE5 T344C, vapB14 A29G, parE1 (C103T, C88T), and parD1 C134T. Six SNPs, including vapB6 A29C, vapB31 T112C, parD1 C134T, vapB37 G205C, Rv2653c A80C, and vapB2 2 C167T, were associated with transmission clades across different countries. Notably, our findings highlighted the positive association of vapB6 A29C, vapB31 T112C, parD1 C134T, vapB37 G205C, vapB1 9 C188T, and Rv2653c A80C with transmission clades across diverse regions. Furthermore, our analysis identified 32 SNPs that exhibited significant associations with clade size., Conclusion: Our study presents potential associations between mutations in genes related to the toxin-antitoxin system and the transmission dynamics of M. tuberculosis . However, it is important to acknowledge the presence of confounding factors and limitations in our study. Further research is required to establish causation and assess the functional significance of these mutations. These findings provide a foundation for future investigations and the formulation of strategies aimed at controlling TB transmission., 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 © 2024 Hou, Li, Tao, Kong, Li, Liu, Li and Wang.)

By February 2021, the overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in India had been relatively mild in terms of total reported cases and deaths. Surprisingly, the second wave in early April becomes devastating and attracts worldwide attention. Multiple factors (e.g., Delta variants with increased transmissibility) could have driven the rapid growth of the epidemic in India and led to a large number of deaths within a short period. We aim to reconstruct the transmission rate, estimate the infection fatality rate and forecast the epidemic size. We download the reported COVID-19 mortality data in India and formulate a simple mathematical model with a flexible transmission rate. We use iterated filtering to fit our model to deaths data. We forecast the infection attack rate in a month ahead. Our model simulation matched the reported deaths well and is reasonably close to the results of the serological study. We forecast that the infection attack rate (IAR) could have reached 43% by July 24, 2021, under the current trend. Our estimated infection fatality rate is about 0.07%. Under the current trend, the IAR will likely reach a level of 43% by July 24, 2021. Our estimated infection fatality rate appears unusually low, which could be due to a low case to infection ratio reported in previous study. Our approach is readily applicable in other countries and with other types of data (e.g., excess deaths).