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Soft tissue integration around titanium (Ti) implants is weaker than that around natural teeth, compromising long-term success of Ti implants. Carbon monoxide (CO) possesses distinctive therapeutic properties, rendering it as a highly promising candidate for enhancing STI. However, achieving controlled CO generation at the STI interface remains challenging. Herein, a controlled CO-releasing dual-function coating was constructed on Ti surfaces. Under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, the designed surface could actively accelerate CO generation for antibiosis against both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. More importantly, in the absence of NIR, the slow release of CO induces macrophage polarization from pro-inflammatory phenotype towards pro-regenerative phenotype. In a rat implantation model with induced infection, the designed surface effectively controlled the bacterial infection, alleviates accompanying inflammation and modulated immune microenvironment, leading to enhanced STI. Single-cell sequencing revealed that the coating alters the cytokine profile within the soft tissue, thereby influencing cellular functions. Differentially expressed genes in macrophages are highly enriched in the PIK3-Akt pathway. Furthermore, the cellular communication between fibroblasts and macrophages was significantly enhanced through the CXCL12/CXCL14/CXCR4 and CSF1-CSF1R ligand-receptor pair. These findings indicate that our coating showed an appealing prospect for enhancing STI around Ti implants, which would ultimately contribute to the improved long-term success of Ti implants.

BackgroundFalcotentorial meningiomas (FM) are surgical challenges for protecting sinus, and the technique notes on the management of superior sagittal or transverse sinus are required for good results.MethodsWe improved the technique notes on the management of superior sagittal or transverse sinus in three FM patients with signs of increased intracranial pressure or chronic headache.ResultsAll patients underwent surgeries in the prone position, and occipital/sup-occipital/sub-occipital craniotomy was performed. In one patient, the skull was removed traditionally with exposure of the confluence of sinuses, superior sagittal, and transverse sinus, while the longitudinal skull bridge was left to suspend the dura for protecting the superior sagittal sinus in one patient, and the transverse skull bridge was left to suspend the dura for protecting the transverse sinus in one patient. The dura was opened infratentorially or supratentorially to spare the sinus and then the “skull bridge” was suspended. The tumor was then removed completely without brain swelling or significant venous bleeding. Complete tumor resection was confirmed by early postoperative imaging, and all patients recovered well without postoperative morbidity.ConclusionThe authors recommend the “skull bridge” to suspend the dura for optimal control of the venous sinuses during FM surgery (less venous bleeding).

With the increasing demand in seamless interface between artificial devices and biological structures, flexible bioelectronics has been developed rapidly in recent years. Compared with traditional rigid bioelectronics, flexible devices are more adaptable to the integration for various parts both inside and outside of the organism. Significant achievements have been made in biomedical devices, neuroelectronics and wearable devices. With the development of flexible bioelectronics, electromagnetics is becoming a crucial part in signal interference reduction and information transmission or feedback, taking advantages of strong penetration and rapid response in a variety of biological materials. In this review, we focus on the latest developments in electromagnetic based flexible bioelectronics, involving materials, sensation, seamless integration, and power supply, as well as the latest achievements in the fields of external wearables, internal implants, soft robotics and drug delivery system. Based on these, the main challenges facing flexible bioelectronics, are analyzed, including stretchability caused by mismatch between mechanical properties of soft and hard components, biocompatibility, environmental stability, to facilitate the further development of flexible bioelectronics.

Driven by the demands of ocean exploration, an increasing number of manta ray-inspired robots have been designed and manufactured, primarily utilizing flexible skeletons combined with motor-driven mechanisms. However, the mechanical analysis of these designs remains underdeveloped, often relying on simplistic imitation of biological prototypes and typically neglecting the vertical motion induced by pectoral fin flapping. This paper presents a fluid–structure interaction analysis framework that couples rigid body motion with elastic deformation using flexible multibody dynamics and the vortex particle method. An implicit iterative algorithm with Aitken relaxation is employed to address added-mass instability, and the framework has been validated against experimental data. An analysis of a representative manta-bot model shows that self-induced vertical undulations reduce the thrust coefficient by approximately 40% compared to fixed vertical degrees of freedom, while slightly improving overall propulsive efficiency. The study also highlights the critical role of mass distribution in manta-bots, noting that excessive focus on complex pectoral fin movements and large fin mass can significantly reduce thrust by increasing vertical displacement, ultimately proving counterproductive.

Abstract This study proposes a model predictive current control algorithm for the synchronous permanent magnet motor with low complexity duty cycle modulation. Three single‐phase voltage vectors are simulated to synthesize the target voltage vector that enables the current to achieve deadbeat control. The algorithm can change the amplitude and direction of the synthesized vector and extend the selection range of the synthesized vector to the whole hexagonal region. That is to say, this method can realize the deadbeat control of the d‐axis and q‐axis currents, and reduce the current pulsation. Moreover, this method only needs one action time operation, which can directly convert the action time of the voltage vector into a three‐phase duty cycle after equivalent processing and over‐modulation of the action time of the voltage vector. It is not necessary to traverse multiple sectors for optimization, which simplifies the modulation method and reduces the computational complexity. The effectiveness and reliability of the proposed method are verified by theoretical derivation and experimental results.

Biomass is an excellent renewable organic energy in nature. 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a significant platform chemical derived from biomass. It can be obtained from biomass and has the potential to produce high value-added derivatives. For the past few years, the chemocatalysis pathway has been extensively studied and is the main pathway of HMF transformation. In this paper, the influence factors and reaction mechanisms of different catalyst types on HMF hydrogenation processes were discussed. The latest progress on the efficient catalytic system using hydrogen, alcohol and other hydrogen sources to catalyze HMF was introduced. Future research prospects of catalytic hydrogenation of HMF were also prospected.

Abstract Background To estimate the effects of different intensities of intermittent pneumatic soft-tissue compression on bone defect repair in an animal model. Methods Five mm radial bone defect in length was made in 64 mature New Zealand rabbits and all animals randomly assigned into four groups: Group A (control group without compression), Group B (5–7 kPa intensity), Group C (8–10 kPa intensity) and Group D (11–13 kPa intensity). On the fourth day after surgery, their legs were intermittently pneumatic compressed for 4 weeks. The stimulation lasted 30 min every day and the frequency of compression was 15 Hz. New bone formation in 4 groups was evaluated by gross observation, X-ray, Micro-CT, and histological staining at 2 and 4 weeks after surgery. Result There was more new bony callus in the bone defect in group C than in other groups by gross observation and X-ray radiography at 2 and 4 weeks. The Micro-CT results showed more new bony callus, bone trabecula and higher bone mineral density in group C. Fluorescent labeling results showed the speed of new bone formation in Group C was faster than that in other groups, among which the control group had the slowest speed of new bone formation. The result of histology had shown that the trabeculae in bone callus in group C had a regular form, the trabeculae were wide and had a more become osteoblast around them. Conclusion The intermittent pneumatic soft-tissue compression can accelerate new bone formation of bone defects and the optimal intensity is 8–10 kPa for repairing the rabbit radial bone defect.

The identification of coal gangue is of great significance for its intelligent separation. To overcome the interference of visible light, we propose coal gangue recognition based on multispectral imaging and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). The data acquisition system is built in the laboratory, and 280 groups of spectral data of coal and coal gangue are collected respectively through the imager. The spectral intensities of all channels of each group of spectral data are averaged, and then the dimensionality is reduced by principal component analysis. XGBoost is used to identify coal and coal gangue based on the reduced dimension spectral data. The results show that PCA combined with XGBoost has the relatively best classification performance, and its recognition accuracy of coal and coal gangue is 98.33%. In this paper, the ensemble-learning algorithm XGBoost is combined with spectral imaging technology to realize the rapid and accurate identification of coal and coal gangue, which is of great significance to the intelligent separation of coal gangue and the intelligent construction of coal mines.

This paper proposes a background noise adaptive energy-efficient keywords recognition processor with Reusable DNN (RDNN) and reconfigurable architecture. To reduce power consumption while maintaining the recognition accuracy of different background noises, the SNR prediction module determines whether the computing mode is low power consumption mode (LPM) or high performance mode (HPM). In LPM, DNN-shift (shift-based deep neural network) is used to achieve high recognition accuracy in a low background noise environment; in HPM, DNN-8bit (8bit weighted deep neural network) is used to achieve low power consumption in a high background noise environment. And the two modes share most of the hardware, and approximate computing is introduced to further reduce power consumption. Evaluated under 22nm process technology, this work can support up to 10 keywords recognition with the power consumption of $11.2~\mu \text{W}$ for high background noise and $7.3~\mu \text{W}$ for low background noise.

Lithium batteries are widely used in power storage and new energy vehicles due to their high energy density and long cycle life. The accurate and real-time estimation for the state-of-charge (SoC) and the state-of-health (SoH) of lithium batteries is of great significance to improve battery life, reliability, and utilization efficiency. In this paper, three cascaded fractional-order sliding-mode observers (FOSMOs) are designed for the estimation of SoC by observing the terminal voltage, the polarization voltage, and the open-circuit voltage of a lithium cell, respectively. Furthermore, to calculate the value of the SoH, two FOSMOs are developed to estimate the capacity and internal resistance of the lithium cell. The control signals of the observers are continuous by utilizing fractional-order sliding manifolds without low-pass filters. Compared with the existing sliding-mode observers for SoC and SoH, weaker chattering, faster response, and higher estimation accuracy are obtained in the proposed method. Finally, the experiment tests demonstrate the validity and feasibility of the proposed observer design method.

Background During the period of immunization with a single-dose measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, which has been available since 2008in China, the incidence of mumps in children aged 2–5 years has been high. The aim of this study was to determine the immunity profile of mumps in children aged 2–5 years as part of the assessment of the MMR vaccination strategy. Methods A cross-sectional survey of IgG antibodies against mumps virus in children aged 2–5 years was performed. Analysis by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay(ELISA)was performed to measure IgG antibodies against mumps virus in the sera of 2-to5-year-old children who had been vaccinated with at least one dose of MMR vaccine. Results Mumps outbreaks mainly occurred in kindergarten and primary schools and primarily involved children in kindergarten from 2015-2016 in Jiangsu Province. In total, 4,033 children were surveyed. The overall seroprevalence of mumps antibodies was 79.0% (95% CI:78.4–79.6), and the geometric mean concentration (GMC) was 323.6 mIU/ml (309.0–338.8). Both univariate and multivariate survival analysis of seroprevalence showed that several factors contributed to having significant seroprevalence among the 2-to-5-year-old group (P

Background: The varicella vaccine is not included in the national childhood immunization schedules in China, although one-dose varicella vaccine has been suggested for susceptible children aged 1–12 years in Jiangsu Province. However, varicella epidemics and outbreaks are frequently reported. We investigated a varicella outbreak in an elementary school to explore the risk factors for varicella transmission and vaccine failure. Methods: A 1:2 matched case-control study was carried out. Participant data were collected with standardized questionnaires. For each case, we enrolled two controls: a subject with high exposure in the same classroom as the case and a subject with low exposure in a different classroom. Data regarding vaccination status and medical and exposure histories were analyzed. Results: Fifty-one cases were reported during the outbreak; 26 cases (51%) were breakthrough varicella. Varicella vaccine immunization history (P

With the wide application of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), the visual inertial odometer (VIO) system that realizes the positioning function through the integration of a camera and inertial measurement unit (IMU) has developed rapidly, but it is still limited by the high complexity of the algorithm, the long development cycle of the dedicated accelerator, and the low power supply capacity of AMRs. This work designs a reconfigurable accelerated core that supports different VIO algorithms and has high area and energy efficiency, precision, and speed processing characteristics. Experimental results show that the loss of accuracy of the proposed accelerator is negligible on the most authoritative dataset. The on-chip memory usage of 70 KB is at least 10× smaller than the state-of-the-art works. Thus, the FPGA implementation’s hardware-resource consumption, power dissipation, and synthesis in the 28 nm CMOS outperform the previous works with the same platform.

Dental implants are widely used to restore missing teeth because of their stability and comfort characteristics. Peri-implant infection may lead to implant failure and other profound consequences. It is believed that peri-implantitis is closely related to the formation of biofilms, which are difficult to remove once formed. Therefore, endowing titanium implants with anti-adhesion properties is an effective method to prevent peri-implant infection. Moreover, anti-adhesion strategies for titanium implant surfaces are critical steps for resisting bacterial adherence. This article reviews the process of bacterial adhesion, the material properties that may affect the process, and the anti-adhesion strategies that have been proven effective and promising in practice. This article intends to be a reference for further improvement of the antibacterial adhesion strategy in clinical application and for related research on titanium implant surfaces.

In this paper, a full-order terminal sliding-mode control method is proposed for the rectifier side and the inverter side of the soft open point (SOP). The rectifier-side DC voltage control system consists of the voltage- and current-loops with controllers which are designed using full-order sliding-mode (FOSM) to enhance the dynamic performances and anti-disturbance. The integral type virtual control signal without chattering is designed to compensate for the unmatched uncertainties including external disturbances and some parameter perturbations. The full-order terminal sliding-mode (FOTSM) controller for the current-loop can force the current response to track its reference in finite time. The inverter side power control system is designed to regulate the power. The FOTSM controller for the power-loop ensures the power-tracking accuracy under a disturbed condition. Finally, the simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controllers for the rectifier and inverter sides in the soft open point (SOP).

Abstract Background As an important component of the causative agent of respiratory tract infections, enteric and eye infections, Human mastadenoviruses (HAdVs) species B spread easily in the crowd. In this study, we developed a recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay for rapidly detecting HAdVs species B which was comprised of two different formats (real-time and lateral-flow device). Results This assay was confirmed to be able to detect 5 different HAdVs species B subtypes (HAdV-B3, HAdV-B7, HAdV-B11, HAdV-B14 and HAdV-B55) without cross-reactions with other subtypes and other respiratory tract pathogens. This RPA assay has not only highly sensitivity with low detection limit of 50 copies per reaction but also short reaction time (

Lignin is an attractive renewable source of aromatics with a low effective hydrogen to carbon ratio (H/Ceff). The catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of lignin-derived model compounds is a key strategy for lignin upgrading. In this work, the HDO of guaiacol, a typical lignin-derived compound, was carried out over metal–organic framework (MOF)-derived Ni-based catalysts. A monometallic Ni-MOF catalyst and different ratios of bimetallic NiMo-MOF catalysts were synthesized by a hydrothermal process, followed by a carbonization process. Among these catalysts, Ni3Mo1@C exhibited an excellent catalytic performance, affording a guaiacol conversion of 98.8% and a cyclohexanol selectivity of 66.8% at 240 °C and 2 MPa H2 for 4 h. The addition of Mo decreased the particle size of the spherical structure and improved the dispersion of metal particles. The synergistic effect between Ni and Mo was confirmed by various means, including ICP, XRD, SEM, TEM, and NH3-TPD analyses. In addition, the effect of the reaction temperature, time, and H2 pressure during the HDO process is discussed in detail.

A single dose of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine has been applied in routine immunizations for children in China; however, the Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody level of mumps in children from kindergarten to early school age with MMR vaccine immunization history has not been elucidated. This study aimed to describe the immunity profile of children from kindergarten to early school age to identify the susceptible population. In Jiangsu Province, a cross-sectional survey of 4- to 8-year-old children who were vaccinated with at least one dose of MMR vaccine was conducted. IgG antibody results were analyzed by employing both the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) cutoff values and the mixture model. A total of 7436 eligible subjects were enrolled: 3386 subjects were in kindergarten, and 4450 were in primary school. The overall seroprevalence (75.4%, 95% CI: 74.4%-76.4%) and Geometric mean concentration (GMC, 201.4U/ml, 95% CI: 194.1–209.4) of mumps antibodies in 2016 were low. The seroprevalence of children in kindergarten (78.1%, 95% CI: 76.6%-79.4%) was significantly higher than that of children in primary school (73.2%, 95% CI: 71.2%-74.6%). The GMC was negatively correlated with the time of inoculation (F = 32.17, P = 0.002). The mixture model enables a more comprehensive understanding of serological results by investigating four levels of antibody response, suggesting that there is a small fraction of the population with waning immunity. Children in kindergarten and primary school whom had received one dose of MMR vaccine were at a higher risk of mumps infection, particularly the 7-year-old group in the central region. Therefore, the single-dose MMR vaccine schedule has a limited impact on mumps control and prevention, and a two-dose MMR vaccine schedule should be introduced.

Abstract Background In recent years, outbreaks of varicella have continued to occur, and the coverage rate of varicella vaccine in Jiangsu Province, China, remains unclear. This study aims to analyse the levels of immune antibody against varicella and obtain a comprehensive understanding of the varicella attenuated live vaccine (VarV) coverage rate in children aged 1–9 years in Jiangsu Province. Methods From June to October 2016, a cross-sectional survey was conducted to collect 3631 serum samples from healthy children aged 1–9 years in Jiangsu Province. The immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody levels of varicella were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results The VarV coverage rate of healthy children was only 43.1% (95% CI: 41.1–44.7%). The seroprevalence after vaccination with a single dose of VarV was only 57.1%, and the overall seropositivity and geometric antibody titre (GMC) were 43.5% and 225.4 mU/ml, respectively. The seropositivity was significantly higher in girls than in boys (χ2 = 18.82, P

Abstract Avian influenza H7N9 viruses are an important public health concern due to their high mortality rate and potentials for future pandemics. We investigated human susceptibility to H7N9 viruses using recombinant H7N9 hemagglutinin (HA) proteins as a probe and found a strong association between H7N9 infections and HA binding among saliva samples from 32 patients and 60 uninfected controls in Jiangsu province, China, during the 2016 epidemic season. We also found that sialyl Lex (SLex) antigen that was recognized by H7N9 HA was associated with H7N9 virus infection. Further analysis suggested that additional saccharide residues adjacent to the SLex moiety may affect the H7N9-binding specificity. Our data suggested that saliva may be a useful reagent to study human susceptibility to avian influenza H7N9 virus, which may impact the disease control and prevention of avian influenza viruses as important human pathogens.

This study proposes a novel fractional-order sliding-mode control strategy with robust switching gain to achieve reliable and high quality of wind-powered microgrid systems. Three fractional-order sliding mode controllers are designed to generate continuous control signals and regulate the outer DC-link voltage loop and inner current loop in the grid-side inverters. High robustness and stability of the grid-side inverter can be guaranteed even in the presence of parameter variations and external disturbances. Owing to the fractional-order sliding manifold and fractional-order integral control law, the chattering is attenuated. The fractional-order robust adaptive switching gain is designed to avoid overestimating the upper bound of matched/unmatched uncertainties, save the control energy, and guarantee the rapidity and robustness of the convergence. Simulations validate the proposed method.

Dynamic traffic monitoring is a critical part of industrial communication network cybersecurity, which can be used to analyze traffic behavior and identify anomalies. In this paper, industrial networks are modeled by a dynamic fluid-flow model of TCP behavior. The model can be described as a class of systems with unmeasurable states. In the system, anomalies and normal variants are represented by the queuing dynamics of additional traffic flow (ATF) and can be considered as a disturbance. The novel contributions are described as follows: (1) a novel continuous terminal sliding-mode observer (TSMO) is proposed for such systems to estimate the disturbance for traffic monitoring; (2) in TSMO, a novel output injection strategy is proposed using the finite-time stability theory to speed up convergence of the internal dynamics; and (3) a full-order sliding-mode-based mechanism is developed to generate a smooth output injection signal for real-time estimations, which is directly used for anomaly detection. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach, the real traffic profiles from the Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) DDoS attack datasets are used.

The general approach for fabricating solid-state materials showing circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) is still in its challenge. In this work, chiral metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with full-color and white-color circularly polarized light emission are firstly achieved through a host-guest emitter-loading strategy. Chiral zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs, a class of MOFs) are fabricated by a facile and simple mixed-ligand coassembly pathway. Meantime, achiral dyes, quantum dots (QDs), and upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are easily loaded into the chiral ZIFs during the synthetic process. Size-matched dyes can be solely encapsulated into the chiral cages of ZIF, resulting in induced CPL and enhanced luminescence efficiency in solid-state ZIF⊃dye composites. Large-sized QDs, after embedding into the gap of the ZIF particles, also exhibited intense CPL activity. Furthermore, through modulating the blending ratio of colored dyes or QDs in chiral ZIFs, white light-emitting ZIFs with circular polarization could be constructed in a solid state. In addition, through loading rare earth element-based upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) into chiral ZIFs, upconverted CPL (UC-CPL) could be achieved with a high dissymmetry factor (glum). Thus, various achiral luminophores were endowed with CPL upon coupling with chiral ZIFs, which significantly deepened and enlarged the research scope of the chiroptical materials in a solid state.

Abstract Background To eliminate measles, the coverage of more than 90% vaccine is required in China. Nonetheless, the measles incidence still reached to 3.88 per 100,000 in 2014, which is far more than the target of 1 per 1,000,000. Moreover, there is little national surveillance to measles antibody level indicating herd immunity status in China. Methods We detected the level of antibody to measles using commercially available indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent IgG assays, and calculated the protection rate of population (PRP) to measles virus infection among health peoples in China. Results During the years 2009–2015, among the Chinese population aged 0–56, PRP was 94.7, 91.6, 91.6, 84.2, 82.1, 81.0, 75.4%, respectively. Among all age bands, the PRP is lowest among children less than 12-month-age, followed by people over 15 years old. Conclusion Measles antibody level among healthy population has been declined since 2012, supplemented measles vaccination activity may be necessary to eliminate measles in China.

This paper proposes a full-order terminal sliding-mode (FOTSM) control scheme for brushless doubly fed induction generator (BDFIG)-based islanded microgrids. To deal with mismatched uncertainties in the BDFIG system, virtual control technique-based full-order sliding-mode control is applied to stabilize the amplitude and frequency of terminal voltage. In the current loops, two full-order terminal sliding-mode controllers are designed to make sure that the current tracking errors can reach their equilibrium points in finite time. It is demonstrated by the comprehensive simulations that the proposed method can significantly improve the tracking accuracy, the rapidness, and the robustness to the uncertainties of the BDFIG control system and can enhance the output voltage quality. Furthermore, an experimental study of the proposed control method for BDFIG-based islanded microgrids would be another important future work.

Aiming at the problem of end structure heating caused by the excessive eddy current loss of large synchronous condensers used in ultra-high voltage (UHV) power transmission, combined with the actual operation characteristics of the synchronous condenser, a three-dimensional transient electromagnetic field physical model is established, and three schemes for adjusting the end structure of the condenser under rated condition are researched. The original structure has a copper shield and a steel clamping plate. Scheme 1 has no copper shield but has a steel clamping plate. Scheme 2 has no copper shield but has an aluminum clamping plate. By constructing a three-dimensional fluid–solid coupling heat transfer model in the end of the synchronous condenser, and giving the basic assumptions and boundary conditions, the eddy current loss of the structure calculated by the three schemes is applied to the end region of the synchronous condenser as the heat source, and the velocity distribution of the cooling medium and the temperature distribution of each structure under the three different schemes are obtained. In order to verify the rationality of the numerical analysis model and the effectiveness of the calculation method, the temperature of the inner edge of the copper shield in the end of the synchronous condenser is measured, and the temperature calculation results are consistent with the temperature measurement results, which provides a theoretical basis for the electromagnetic design, structural optimization, ventilation and cooling of the synchronous condenser.

Abstract Background A marked increase in the incidence rate of scarlet fever imposed a considerable burden on the health of children aged 5 to 15 years. The main purpose of this study was to depict the spatiotemporal epidemiological characteristics of scarlet fever in Jiangsu Province, China in order to develop and implement effective scientific prevention and control strategies. Methods Smoothed map was used to demonstrate the spatial distribution of scarlet fever in Jiangsu Province. In addition, a retrospective space-time analysis based on a discrete Poisson model was utilized to detect clusters of scarlet fever from 2005 to 2015. Results During the years 2005–2015, a total of 15,873 scarlet fever cases occurred in Jiangsu Province, with an average annual incidence rate of 1.87 per 100,000. A majority of the cases (83.67%) occurred in children aged 3 to 9 years. Each year, two seasonal incidence peaks were observed, the higher occurring between March and July, the lower between November and the following January. The incidence in the southern regions of the province was generally higher than that in the northern regions. Seven clusters, all of which occurred during incidence peaks, were detected via space-time scan statistical analysis. The most likely cluster and one of the secondary clusters were detected in the southern and northern high endemic regions, respectively. Conclusion The prevalence of scarlet fever in Jiangsu Province had a marked seasonality variation and was relatively endemic in some regions. Children aged 3 to 9 years were the major victims of this disease, and kindergartens and primary schools were the focus of surveillance and control. Targeted strategies and measures should be taken to reduce the incidence.

It is of great importance to explore the selective hydrogenolysis of β-O-4 linkages, which account for 45–60% of all linkages in native lignin, to produce valued-added chemicals and fuels from biomass employing UV light as catalyst. TiO2 exhibited satisfactory catalytic performances in various photochemical reactions, due to its versatile advantages involving high catalytic activity, low cost and non-toxicity. In this work, 20 wt.% Ni/TiO2 and oxidant PCC (Pyridinium chlorochromate) were employed to promote the cleavage of β-O-4 alcohol to obtain high value chemicals under UV irradiation at room temperature. The Ni/TiO2 photocatalyst can be magnetically recovered and efficiently reused in the following four consecutive recycling tests in the cleavage of β-O-4 ether bond in lignin. Mechanism studies suggested that the oxidation of β-O-4 alcohol to β-O-4 ketone by oxidant PCC first occurred during the reaction, and was followed by the photocatalysis of the obtained β-O-4 ketone to corresponding acetophenone and phenol derivates. Furthermore, the system was tested on a variety of lignin model substrates containing β-O-4 linkage for the generation of fragmentation products in good to excellent results.

Transfer hydrogenation is a novel and efficient method to realize the hydrogenation in different chemical reactions and exploring a simple heterogeneous catalyst with high activity is crucial. Ni/CNT was synthesized through a traditional impregnation method, and the detailed physicochemical properties were performed by means of XRD, TEM, XPS, BET, and ICP analysis. Through the screening of loading amounts, solvents, reaction temperature, and reaction time, 20% Ni/CNT achieves an almost complete conversion of phenol after 60 min at 220 °C in the absence of external hydrogen. Furthermore, the catalytic system is carried out on a variety of phenol derivatives for the generation of corresponding cyclohexanols with good to excellent results. The mechanism suggests that the hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone is the first step, while the hydrogenation of cyclohexanone for the generation of cyclohexanol takes place in a successive step. Moreover, Ni/CNT catalyst can be magnetically recovered and reused in the next test for succeeding four times.

A cluster of eleven patients, including eight family members and three healthcare workers with fever and thrombocytopenia occurred in Yixing County, Jiangsu Province, China, from October to November 1996. However, the initial investigation failed to identify its etiology. Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease caused by SFTS bunyavirus (SFTSV), which was first discovered in 2009. The discovery of novel SFTSV resulted in our consideration to test SFTSV on the remaining samples of this cluster in September 2010.We retrospectively analyzed the epidemiological and clinical data of this cluster. The first case, one 55-year-old man with fulminant hemorrhagic diseases, died on October 14, 1996. His younger brother (the second case) developed similar hemorrhagic diseases after nursing him and then died on November 3. From November 4 to November 15, nine other patients, including six family members and three medical staffs, developed fever and thrombocytopenia after exposure to the second case. The sera of six patients were collected on November 24, 1996. IgM antibodies against SFTSV were detected in all of the six patients' sera using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), while IgG antibodies were detected in one patient's serum using an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). We also found that IgG antibodies against SFTSV were still detected in four surviving patients' sera 14 years after illness onset.The mysterious pathogen of the cluster in 1996 was proved to be SFTSV on the basis of its epidemiological data, clinical data and serological results. It suggests that SFTSV has been circulating in China for more than 10 years before being identified in 2009, and SFTSV IgG antibodies can persist for up to 14 years.

Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) may play an important role in pathogen-host interactions and can serve as molecular markers for the detection of infectious diseases. To date, the relationship between circulating miRNAs and varicella-zoster virus (VZV) caused varicella has not been reported. Using TaqMan Low-Density Array (TLDA) analysis, expression levels of miRNAs in serum samples from 29 patients with varicella and 60 patients with Bordetella pertussis (BP), measles virus (MEV) and enterovirus (EV) were analyzed. The array results showed that 247 miRNAs were differentially expressed in sera of the varicella patients compared with healthy controls (215 up-regulated and 32 down-regulated). Through the following qRT-PCR confirmation and receiver operational characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, five miRNAs (miR-197, miR-629, miR-363, miR-132 and miR-122) were shown to distinguish varicella patients from healthy controls and other microbial infections with moderate sensitivity and specificity. A number of significantly enriched pathways regulated by these circulating miRNAs were predicted, and some of them were involved in inflammatory response, nervous system and respiratory system development. Our results, for the first time, revealed that a number of miRNAs were differentially expressed during VZV infection, and these five serum miRNAs have great potential to serve as biomarkers for the diagnosis of VZV infection in varicella patients.

A novel avian-origin influenza A (H7N9) virus recently occurred in China and caused 137 human infection cases with a 32.8% mortality rate. Although various detection procedures have been developed, the pathogenesis of this emerging virus in humans remains largely unknown. In this study, we characterized serum microRNA (miRNA) profile in response to H7N9 virus infection using TaqMan Low Density Arrays. Upon infection, a total of 395 miRNAs were expressed in the serum pool of patients, far beyond the 221 in healthy controls. Among the 187 commonly expressed miRNAs, 146 were up-regulated and only 7 down-regulated in patients. Further analysis by quantitative RT-PCR revealed that the serum levels of miR-17, miR-20a, miR-106a and miR-376c were significantly elevated in patients compared with healthy individuals (p < 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to show that each miRNA could discriminate H7N9 patients from controls with area under the curve (AUC) values ranging from 0.622 to 0.898, whereas a combination of miR-17, miR-20a, miR-106a and miR-376c obtained a higher discriminating ability with an AUC value of 0.96. Our findings unravel the significant alterations in serum miRNA expression following virus infection and manifest great potential of circulating miRNAs for the diagnosis of viral diseases.

The electronic immunization registry system (EIRs) can improve the vaccine coverage monitoring significantly. The EIRs in Jiangsu Province, China was set up since 2006. In this paper, the mechanism and structure of the EIRs were summarized, and then some function of this system were illustrated. The application of the EIRs was believed to be an effective health management and electronic vaccine record quality improvement tool in China. The experience and progress we gained could provide a valuable example for other countries.

Lignin, a renewable source of aromatic chemicals in nature, has attracted increasing attention due to its structure and application prospect. Catalytic solvolysis has developed as a promising method for the production of value-added products from lignin. The liquefaction process is closely associated with heating methods, catalysts and solvents. Microwave assisted lignin liquefaction in hydrogen donor solvent with the presence of catalysts has been confirmed to be effective to promote the production of liquid fuels or fine chemicals. A great number of researchers should be greatly appreciated on account of their contributions on the progress of microwave technology in lignin liquefaction. In this study, microwave assisted liquefaction of lignin in a hydrogen donor solvent is extensively overviewed, concerning the effect of different solvents and catalysts. This review concludes that microwave assisted liquefaction is a promising technology for the valorization of lignin, which could reduce the reaction time, decrease the reaction temperature, and finally fulfill the utilization of lignin in a relatively mild condition. In the future, heterogeneous catalysts with high catalytic activity and stability need to be prepared to achieve the need for large-scale production of high-quality fuels and value-added chemicals from lignin.

A cross-sectional survey of 2819 adults aged 20 years and above was undertaken in 2002 in Jiangsu Province. Zinc intake was assessed using a consecutive 3-day 24-h dietary recall method. Insufficient and excess intake was determined according to the Chinese Dietary Recommended Intakes. Four distinct dietary patterns were identified namely “traditional”, “macho”, “sweet tooth”, and “healthy”. Intake of zinc from biofortified rice was simulated at an intermediate zinc concentration (2.7 mg/100 g) and a high zinc concentration (3.8 mg/100 g) in rice. Average total zinc intake was 12.0 ± 3.7 mg/day, and insufficiency of zinc intake was present in 15.4%. Simulated zinc intake from biofortified rice with intermediate and high zinc concentration decreased the prevalence of low zinc intake to 6.5% and 4.4%, respectively. The effect was most pronounced in the “traditional” pattern, with only 0.7% of insufficiency of zinc intake remaining in the highest quartile of the pattern. Zinc intake was inversely associated with the “sweet tooth” pattern. Zinc biofortifed rice improves dietary zinc intake and lowers risk for insufficient zinc intake, especially for subjects with a more “traditional” food pattern, but less for subjects with a “sweet tooth” food pattern.

Scrub typhus, caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi, has emerged recently in Jingjiang City, China where the disease had not been known to exist. We analyzed epidemiological data, clinical characteristics and risk factors of scrub typhus outbreak in Jingjiang City, 2013. The 271 clinically diagnosed patients were predominantly farmers 50 to 69 years old and the peak of onset was early to mid-November. For the 187 laboratory-confirmed cases, the major clinical manifestations of the patients were fever (100%), eschar (88.2%), rash (87.7%), chills (87.7%), and headache (66.8%). A community-based case-control study was carried out to investigate the risk factors of the scrub typhus outbreak. Bundling or moving waste straw (OR=9.0, 95%CI 4.6-17.8) and living at the edge of village (OR=0.6, 95%CI 0.4-0.9) posed the highest risks through single- and multi-variable conditional logistic regression. Phylogenetic analysis of the 56-kDa TSA gene showed that the new cluster (GB-C2) and the previously reported cluster (GB-C1) of O. tsutsugamushi were associated with this outbreak. These findings are useful for the establishment of a detailed control strategy for scrub typhus infection in previously unrecognized areas of Jiangsu Province, China.

BACKGROUND:Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), the causative agent for the fatal life-threatening infectious disease, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), was first identified in the central and eastern regions of China. Although the viral RNA was detected in free-living and parasitic ticks, the vector for SFTSV remains unsettled. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Firstly, an experimental infection study in goats was conducted in a bio-safety level-2 (BSL-2) facility to investigate virus transmission between animals. The results showed that infected animals did not shed virus to the outside through respiratory or digestive tract route, and the control animals did not get infected. Then, a natural infection study was carried out in the SFTSV endemic region. A cohort of naïve goats was used as sentinel animals in the study site. A variety of daily samples including goat sera, ticks and mosquitoes were collected for viral RNA and antibody (from serum only) detection, and virus isolation. We detected viral RNA from free-living and parasitic ticks rather than mosquitoes, and from goats after ticks' infestation. We also observed sero-conversion in all members of the animal cohort subsequently. The S segment sequences of the two recovered viral isolates from one infected goat and its parasitic ticks showed a 100% homology at the nucleic acid level. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:In our natural infection study, close contact between goats does not appear to transmit SFTSV, however, the naïve animals were infected after ticks' infestation and two viral isolates derived from an infected goat and its parasitic ticks shared 100% of sequence identity. These data demonstrate that the etiologic agent for goat cohort's natural infection comes from environmental factors. Of these, ticks, especially the predominant species Haemaphysalis longicornis, probably act as vector for this pathogen. The findings in this study may help local health authorities formulate and focus preventive measures to contain this infection.

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is endemic in mainland China, accounting for 90% of total reported cases worldwide, and Jiangsu is one of the most severely affected provinces. In this study, the authors conducted GIS-based spatial analyses in order to determine the spatial distribution of the HFRS cases, identify key areas and explore risk factors for public health planning and resource allocation.Interpolation maps by inverse distance weighting were produced to detect the spatial distribution of HFRS cases in Jiangsu from 2001 to 2011. Spatio-temporal clustering was applied to identify clusters at the county level. Spatial correlation analysis was conducted to detect influencing factors of HFRS in Jiangsu.HFRS cases in Jiangsu from 2001 to 2011 were mapped and the results suggested that cases in Jiangsu were not distributed randomly. Cases were mainly distributed in northeastern and southwestern Jiangsu, especially in Dafeng and Sihong counties. It was notable that prior to this study, Sihong county had rarely been reported as a high-risk area of HFRS. With the maximum spatial size of 50% of the total population and the maximum temporal size of 50% of the total population, spatio-temporal clustering showed that there was one most likely cluster (LLR = 624.52, P

During September 2010, an outbreak of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis reemerged in Jiangsu, three years after the nationwide epidemic in China in 2007. In total, 2409 cases were reported, 2118 of which were reported in September; 79.8% of those affected were students or teachers, with a median age of 16 years. To identify and demonstrate the genetic characteristics of the etiological agent, 52 conjunctival swabs were randomly collected from four different cities. After detection and isolation, 43 patients were positive for coxsackievirus A24 variant according to PCR and 20 according to culture isolation. Neither adenovirus nor EV70 was detected. A phylogenetic study of the complete 3Cpro and VP1 regions showed that the Jiangsu isolates clustered into a new lineage, GIV-C5, with two uniform amino-acid mutations that distinguished them from all previous strains. Another new cluster, GIV-C4, formed by Indian isolates from 2007 and Brazilian isolates from 2009, was also identified in this study. Interestingly, our isolates shared greatest homology with the GIV-C4 strains, not with the isolates that were responsible for the nationwide acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis epidemic in China in 2007. Although all our isolates were closely related, they could be differentiated into two subclusters within GIV-C5. In conclusion, our study suggests that a new cluster of coxsackievirus A24 variant that had already evolved into diverse strains was associated with the acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis outbreaks in Jiangsu in September 2010. These viruses might have originated from the virus isolated in India in 2007, rather than from the epidemic strains isolated in China in 2007.

A severe disease in humans caused by a novel avian-origin influenza A (H7N9) virus emerged in China recently, which has caused at least 128 cases and 26 deaths. Rapid detection of the novel H7N9 virus is urgently needed to differentiate the disease from other infections, and to facilitate infection control as well as epidemiologic investigations. In this study, a reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification combined with a lateral flow device (RT-LAMP-LFD) assay to rapidly detect H7N9 virus was developed and evaluated. The RT-LAMP primers were designed to target the haemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes of H7N9 virus. Results of 10-fold dilution series assays showed that analysis of RT-LAMP products by the LFD method was as sensitive as real-time turbidity detection, and that the analytic sensitivities of the HA and NA RT-LAMP assays were both 10 copies of synthetic RNA. Furthermore, both the assays showed 100% clinical specificity for identification of H7N9 virus. The performance characteristics of the RT-LAMP-LFD assay were evaluated with 80 clinical specimens collected from suspected H7N9 patients. The NA RT-LAMP-LFD assay was more sensitive than real time RT-PCR assay. Compared with a combination of virus culture and real-time RT-PCR, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the RT-LAMP-LFD assay were all 100%. Overall, The RT-LAMP-LFD assay established in this study can be used as a reliable method for early diagnosis of the avian-origin influenza A (H7N9) virus infection.

Most recently a novel avian-origin influenza A (H7N9) virus emerged in China and has been associated with lots of human infection and fatal cases. Genetic analysis of the viral genome revealed that this reassortant virus might be better adapted to humans than other avian influenza viruses. Molecular diagnostic methods are thus urgently needed in public health laboratories. In this study, a SYBR green-based one-step real time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) was developed to detect the novel H7N9 virus. The primer pairs on the basis of the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase gene sequences of H7N9 viruses amplified subtype-specific fragments with Tm values of 80.77±0.06°C for H7 and 81.20±0.17°C for N9 respectively. The standard curves showed a dynamic linear range across 6 log units of RNA copy number (10(6) to 10(1) copies/ µl) with a detection limit of 10 copies per reaction for both H7 and N9 assays by using serial ten-fold diluted in-vitro transcribed viral RNA. In addition, no cross-reactivity was observed with seasonal H1N1, H1N1 pdm09, H3N2, H5N1 and H9N2 viruses as well as other human respiratory viruses. When the assay was further evaluated in H7N9 virus infected clinical samples, positive amplification signals were obtained in all of the specimens with the accordance between H7 and N9 assays. Therefore, the established SYBR green-based real time RT-PCR assay could provide a rapid, sensitive, specific and reliable alternative approach with lower costs for high throughput screening of suspected samples from humans, animals and environments in first line public health laboratories.

Altered circulating microRNA (miRNA) profiles have been noted in patients with microbial infections. We compared host serum miRNA levels in patients with hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) caused by enterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsackievirus 16 (CVA16) as well as in other microbial infections and in healthy individuals. Among 664 different miRNAs analyzed using a miRNA array, 102 were up-regulated and 26 were down-regulated in sera of patients with enteroviral infections. Expression levels of ten candidate miRNAs were further evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR assays. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that six miRNAs (miR-148a, miR-143, miR-324-3p, miR-628-3p, miR-140-5p, and miR-362-3p) were able to discriminate patients with enterovirus infections from healthy controls with area under curve (AUC) values ranged from 0.828 to 0.934. The combined six miRNA using multiple logistic regression analysis provided not only a sensitivity of 97.1% and a specificity of 92.7% but also a unique profile that differentiated enterovirial infections from other microbial infections. Expression levels of five miRNAs (miR-148a, miR-143, miR-324-3p, miR-545, and miR-140-5p) were significantly increased in patients with CVA16 versus those with EV71 (p

BACKGROUND: We investigated the seropositive rates and persistence of antibody against pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus (pH1N1) in pregnant women and voluntary blood donors after the second wave of the pandemic in Nanjing, China. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Serum samples of unvaccinated pregnant women (n = 720) and voluntary blood donors (n = 320) were collected after the second wave of 2009 pandemic in Nanjing. All samples were tested against pH1N1 strain (A/California/7/2009) with hemagglutination inhibition assay. A significant decline in seropositive rates, from above 50% to about 20%, was observed in pregnant women and voluntary blood donors fifteen weeks after the second wave of the pandemic. A quarter of the samples were tested against a seasonal H1N1 strain (A/Brisbane/59/2007). The antibody titers against pH1N1 strain were found to correlate positively with those against seasonal H1N1 strain. The correlation was modest but statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: The high seropositive rates in both pregnant women and voluntary blood donors suggested that the pH1N1 virus had widely spread in these two populations. Immunity derived from natural infection seemed not to be persistent well.