Objective: To assess the implementation of National Leprosy Control Plan (2011-2020) in Zhejiang Province, so as to provide insights into leprosy control. Methods: Leprosy control data were collected from the National Leprosy Management Information System of China, and health administrative sectors, centers for disease control and prevention and professional leprosy control institutions at each level in Zhejiang Province. According to the scheme for the final evaluation of National Leprosy Control Plan (2011-2020), the implementation of 12 indicators in Zhejiang Province in 2020 was investigated, including the current number of leprosy patients, prevalence of leprosy, proportion of training on leprosy control skills, proportion of regular leprosy treatment, proportion of treatment of adverse reactions, annual examination rate of close contacts, proportion of early case identification and awareness of leprosy control knowledge. Results: There were 50 registered leprosy cases in Zhejiang Province by the end of 2020, with a decrease of 50.98% relative to in 2010. The prevalence of leprosy was less than 1/105 in 93 counties (districts) of Zhejiang Province, and the rate of training on leprosy control skills, rate of regular leprosy treatment, rate of treatment of adverse reactions, annual examination rate of close contacts, rate of early case identification were all 100% in Zhejiang Province. There were no new confirmed cases with diagnosis of leprosy having grade 2 deformity or disability, or no new cases with deformity or disability within 2 years following anti-leprosy therapy. In addition, the awareness of leprosy control knowledge was 91.67% among the public and 98.12% among the close contacts. All of the 12 indicators reached the requirements of the National Leprosy Control Plan (2011-2020). Conclusions The implementation of the National Leprosy Control Plan (2011-2020) in Zhejiang Province had achieved the targets defined in the final evaluation of the plan. Intensifying multi-sectoral joint leprosy prevention and control and improving early identification and standardized therapy of leprosy cases are recommended for future leprosy control in Zhejiang Province.

AIM: To solve the two difficulties of bone resorption and inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis, clone the recombinant human osteoprotegerin (OPG) and mycobacteria heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) functional gene,and study the expression and activity of OPG-HSP70 fusion protein in E.coli. METHODS: Experiments were performed at the Laboratory of Department of Immunology, Capital Medical University from May 2006 to September 2007. Complementary DNA encoding full length OPG protein was amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from human osteosarcoma cell line MG63 and cloned into pGEMT-Easy vectors. Then, using the recombinant plasmid as the template,the DNA encoding the fusion protein OPG-HSP 70 was amplified by PCR,and was inserted into prokaryotic expression vector pET-28a. Construct pET-28a-OPG-HSP 70 was used to transform into competent E.coli. BL21(DE3) which were induced by isopropyl B-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG),and the fusion protein from above E.coli was collected. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electropheresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western-blotting were performed to identify OPG-HSP 70 fusion protein. The experiments of osteoclast inhibition and restraining inflammation were used to detect the bioactivity of fusion protein. RESULTS: ①The complementary DNA encoding full length OPG protein was obtained. OPG-HSP 70 fusion gene obtained in this experiment was successfully inserted into pET-28a vector. OPG-HSP70 fusion protein was expressed when transformed into E.coli.BL21(DE3). ②SDS-PAGE indicated that the fusion protein was large expressed at the molecular weight of Mr22 000, but there were no band in the total lysate of bacteria harboring pET-28a-OPG-HSP70 without IPTG induction group. ③Western-blotting indicated that the OPG-HSP70 fusion protein could specifically react with anti-human OPG monoclonal antibodies. ④The osteoclast inhibition test demonstrated that the fusion protein could reduce the number of osteoclast, and had the ability to inhibit bone absorptions in vitro. ⑤The experiment of restraining inflammation showed that the fusion protein could significantly reduce the inflammation of delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) mice, which explained that HSP70 in fusion protein had the inflammation inhibitory bioactivity. CONCLUSION: OPG-HSP70 fusion protein is expressed in E.coli.BL21(DE3),and function study in vitro illustrates the bioactivity of fusion protein.

Objective:To analyze spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of syphilis in Zhejiang province from 2016 to 2020, to explore cluster areas of syphilis cases, and to provide a theoretical basis for accurate prevention and control of syphilis.Methods:Data on reported syphilis cases in Zhejiang province from 2016 to 2020 were collected from the notifiable infectious disease surveillance system in China Disease Control and Prevention Information System. The ArcGIS10.2 software was used as a data management and presentation platform to establish a database for spatial analysis of syphilis in Zhejiang province from 2016 to 2020, and spatial autocorrelation analysis of reported syphilis incidence was conducted. The SaTScan 9.6 software was used for spatiotemporal scanning analysis.Results:A total of 158 420 cases of syphilis were reported in Zhejiang province from 2016 to 2020, and the average annual reported incidence rate was 49.07 per 100 000 in all counties and districts (range: 20.52 per 100 000-124.29 per 100 000) . The overall spatial distribution pattern of syphilis cases in Zhejiang province was characterized by higher reported syphilis incidence in the West area and lower incidence in the middle area. Global autocorrelation analysis showed that all the global Moran′s I indices from 2016 to 2020 were over 0, Z values were over 1.96, and P values were below 0.001, suggesting the spatial clustering of reported syphilis cases. Local autocorrelation analysis showed that there were 2 high-high clustering areas (Tonglu and Chun′an counties in Hangzhou city, Jingning county in Lishui city) , and 1 low-low clustering area (Jindong district, Dongyang and Yongkang county-level cities in Jinhua city) . Local hot-spot analysis with G statistic showed that there were 6 positive hot-spot areas and 8 negative hot-spot areas of syphilis cases in Zhejiang province. SaTScan spatiotemporal scanning analysis revealed 3 clustering areas, mainly distributed in Taizhou and Zhoushan cities along the eastern coast, and some counties and districts in the southwestern mountainous areas. Conclusions:The reported incidence rate of syphilis in Zhejiang province is characterized by spatial clustering. In the future, prevention and control of syphilis should be strengthened in southwestern mountainous areas, eastern islands, and other remote areas as well as areas with poor transportation.

Objective:To analyze the characteristics of inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility in hearing-impaired children.Methods:From March to April 2023, a convenience sampling method was used to select 33 hearing-impaired children from a special education school in Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, and 35 normal-hearing children from two ordinary schools as participants. Inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility of the participants were assessed by the Flanker task and the dimensional change card sorting (DCCS) task. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 26.0 software, and independent sample t-test was used to compare the differences in reaction time and accuracy rate between two groups of participants. Results:There were no significant differences in the Flanker task reaction time ((558.39±123.65) ms vs (566.11±118.20) ms) and accuracy rate((0.93±0.10) vs (0.96±0.04))between hearing-impaired children and normal-hearing children ( t=-0.295, -1.645, both P>0.05). The hearing-impaired children had significantly longer reaction time ((1 019.60±131.08) ms)than the normal-hearing children ((857.85±129.19) ms) ( t=4.046, P=0.001) in the DCCS task, while there was no statistically significant difference in the accuracy rate between hearing-impaired children (0.62±0.16) and normal-hearing children (0.57±0.15) ( t=-1.602, P>0.05). Conclusion:There is no difference in inhibitory control ability between hearing-impaired children and normal-hearing children, but the hearing-impaired children have a lag in cognitive flexibility.

Objective:To investigate clinicopathological features of 4 cases of intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL) .Methods:Clinical and pathological data were collected from 4 patients with histopathologically confirmed IVLBCL in Department of Dermatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2020 to November 2020, and retrospectively analyzed.Results:The 4 patients were aged 57 - 76 years, including 2 males and 2 females. Of the 4 patients, all had neurological symptoms, 3 had fever, 3 exhibited impaired exercise tolerance and suffocation, and 3 exhibited pitting edema of the body. Case 1 presented with a cherry hemangioma-like papule measuring 0.2 cm in diameter on the back, and case 2 with telangiectasia on the left breast and upper abdomen. Six skin samples were taken from the 4 patients for histopathological and immunohistochemical studies, and tumor cells were found in 1 cherry hemangioma-like lesion and 1 lesion of telangiectasia, as well as in 2 of 4 normal skin samples. Histopathological findings mainly were dilated dermal blood vessels filled with large atypical mononuclear cells, and the atypical mononuclear cells were positive for CD20 immunohistochemically.Conclusion:For those patients with suspected IVLBCL, hemangioma-like and telangiectasia lesions tend to show characteristic histopathological and immunohistochemical findings, and a biopsy of normal skin can facilitate early diagnosis of IVLBCL.

Objective:To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of syphilis in Zhejiang province and to provide scientific basis for the development of syphilis prevention and control strategies.Methods:A descriptive epidemiological analysis was conducted on the incidence data of syphilis in Zhejiang from 2010 to 2019.Results:During the period, the incidence rate of syphilis decreased from 94.90/100 000 in 2010 to 53.53/100 000 in 2019 with an average decreasing rate of 6.16%. The annual decreases of the incidences of congenital syphilis, primary syphilis and secondary syphilis were all obvious, which were 43.47%, 21.38% and 14.19% respectively. The proportion of latent syphilis cases increased with year. Except for Lishui, the incidences of syphilis in the remaining 10 prefectures showed declining trends. The incidence rates in both men and women showed declining trends with the average rates of 4.80% and 6.45% respectively. The incidence peaks occurred in old men aged ≥60 years and in sexually active women aged 20-34 years, and the syphilis cases in age group ≥60 years increased significantly. The cases were mainly farmers, accounting for 43.00%.Conclusion:The incidence of syphilis in Zhejiang showed a decreasing trend, but the situation remains serious, indicating that the intensity and quality of the comprehensive prevention and control needs to be further strengthened.

Objective: To screen the differentially expressed long non-coding RNAs(lncRNAs) by analyzing the related gene sequencing data of female non-smoking lung cancer patients in the database of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Methods: The gene expression data and the corresponding clinical information of female non-smoking lung cancer patients were downloaded from the TCGA database. Then, the data were processed, integrated and analyzed with the R software package, and the differentially expressed genes were screened out. The prognosis was analyzed by the Survival package. Results: A total of 354 differentially expressed lncRNAs associated with female non-smoking lung cancer were obtained, of which 45 were down-regulated and 309 were up-regulated in tumor tissues. The prognosis analysis showed that the expression level of LINC01863 was positively correlated with the prognosis of female non-smoking lung cancer patients (P＜0.05), and that the expression levels of LINC02487, LINC01419 and DSCAM-AS1 were negatively correlated with the prognosis of female non-smoking lung cancer patients (P＜0.05). Conclusion The re-analysis on the high-throughput sequencing data in TCGA database obtains a large number of lncRNAs related to the development of female non-smoking lung cancer, which provides the potential new targets for the diagnosis and prognosis assessment of female non-smoking lung cancer.

Objective:To compare demographic characteristics,clinical characteristics,therapeutic characteris-tics and physiological indicators of patients with bipolar Ⅰ disorder and bipolar Ⅱ disorder.Methods:A total of 381 patients with bipolar disorder(BD)diagnosed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 th Edi-tion(DSM-5)were selected,including 302 patients with BD-Ⅰ(79.27％),74 patients with BD-Ⅱ(19.42％)and 5 patients with other specific and related disorders(1.31％).Demographic and clinical characteristics were collected with self-designed clinical information questionnaire.Multivariate logistic regression and multivariate linear regres-sion analysis were used for analysis.Results:Compared with patients with BD-Ⅱ,patients with BD-Ⅰ had more risk to have psychotic features(OR=5.75,95％CI:2.82-11.76),longer disease duration,and more repeated transcra-nial magnetic therapy(OR=3.09,95％CI:1.02-9.35),higher uric acid,total cholesterol and high-density lipo-protein.BD-Ⅰ in Han nationality was more common(OR=11.50,95％CI:1.76-75.30),and had lower education level(OR=10.22,95％CI:1.16-89.77),and less family history of psychosis(OR=2.34,95％CI:1.01-5.42).Conclusion:There are significant differences between BD-Ⅰ and BD-Ⅱ in demographic and clinical charac-teristics,treatment status,and physiological indicators,which could provide clues for exploring the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder.

On January 22, 2020, China National Center for Bioinformation (CNCB) released the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Resource (2019nCoVR), an open-access information resource for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). 2019nCoVR features a comprehensive integra-tion of sequence and clinical information for all publicly available SARS-CoV-2 isolates, which are manually curated with value-added annotations and quality evaluated by an automated in-house pipeline. Of particular note, 2019nCoVR offers systematic analyses to generate a dynamic landscape of SARS-CoV-2 genomic variations at a global scale. It provides all identified variants and their detailed statistics for each virus isolate, and congregates the quality score, functional annotation,and population frequency for each variant. Spatiotemporal change for each variant can be visualized and historical viral haplotype network maps for the course of the outbreak are also generated based on all complete and high-quality genomes available. Moreover, 2019nCoVR provides a full collection of SARS-CoV-2 relevant literature on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including published papers from PubMed as well as preprints from services such as bioRxiv and medRxiv through Europe PMC. Furthermore, by linking with relevant databases in CNCB, 2019nCoVR offers data submission services for raw sequence reads and assembled genomes, and data sharing with NCBI. Collectively, SARS-CoV-2 is updated daily to collect the latest information on genome sequences, variants, hap-lotypes, and literature for a timely reflection, making 2019nCoVR a valuable resource for the global research community. 2019nCoVR is accessible at https://bigd.big.ac.cn/ncov/.

We report a complete genomic sequence of rare isolates (minor genotype) of the SARS-CoV from SARS patients in Guangdong, China, where the first few cases emerged. The most striking discovery from the isolate is an extra 29-nucleotide sequence located at the nucleotide positions between 27,863 and 27,864 (referred to the complete sequence of BJ01) within an overlapped region composed of BGI-PUP5 (BGI-postulated uncharacterized protein 5) and BGI-PUP6 upstream of the N (nucleocapsid) protein. The discovery of this minor genotype, GD-Ins29, suggests a significant genetic event and differentiates it from the previously reported genotype, the dominant form among all sequenced SARS-CoV isolates. A 17-nt segment of this extra sequence is identical to a segment of the same size in two human mRNA sequences that may interfere with viral replication and transcription in the cytosol of the infected cells. It provides a new avenue for the exploration of the virus-host interaction in viral evolution, host pathogenesis, and vaccine development.
Base Sequence ; China ; Cluster Analysis ; Gene Components ; Genetic Variation ; Genome, Viral ; Genotype ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; SARS Virus ; genetics ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; genetics