OBJECTIVETo elucidate the relationship between HBV core promoter mutation and clinical features as well as its effects on serum e system and viral replication.

METHODSSemi-nested mutation specific PCR (msPCR) was employed for detecting core promoter mutation at nt 1 762-1 764 in 97 patients with HBV infection.

RESULTSThe msPCR method was demonstrated to be specific and reliable for the mutation detection by sequencing the PCR products. The detection ratio of the mutation in patients with acute hepatitis, mild, moderate and severe chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis was 2/5, 7/43, 10/31, 1/3 and 7/15, respectively. The detection rate of the mutation in liver cirrhosis was significantly higher than that in light chronic hepatitis (P < 0.025). In 92 patients with chronic HBV infection, HBeAg positive rate in wild (25/92), mutant (42/92) and mixed (25/92) strain infection was 80.0%, 56.0% and 64.3%, HBV DNA level was (4.4 +/- 8.5) x 10(8), (1.1 +/- 1.6) x 10(9) and (1.4 +/- 1.8) x 10(9) copies/ml, the rate of abnormal ALT was 44.0%, 52.0% and 42.6%; ALT level was (58.6 +/- 79.0), (57.1 +/- 75.2) and (62.6 +/- 90.3) IU/L, respectively (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe msPCR method for detecting core promoter mutation at nt 1 762-1 764 is specific and reliable. Core promoter mutation is associated with the severity of liver disease, but neither related to the status of e system in serum nor to the virus replication.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; DNA, Viral ; blood ; genetics ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Hepatitis B ; blood ; pathology ; virology ; Hepatitis B Core Antigens ; blood ; genetics ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; physiology ; Host-Pathogen Interactions ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mutation ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; genetics ; Virus Replication ; Young Adult

Tuberculosis is a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The high financial burden and high incidence rate of tuberculosis have become a critical public health problem in China. Isoniazid, as one of the important first-line drugs in the treatment of clinical patients, drug resistance is becoming increasingly serious because of the lack of standard treatment. At present, the main mechanism of isoniazid resistance is known as gene mutation. How to detect drug resistance gene effectively and accurately is the key to control tuberculosis. In this article, we analyzed the frequent genes (katG, inhA, ndh, ahpC and oxyR) and novel genes (kasA, sigI, furA, mabA, iniABC and efpA) from the perspective of molecular biology, and summarized their diagnostic methods.

OBJECTIVETo study the epidemiology of genotyping Yersinia pestis isolated in the fulminant epidemics of human plague in Qinghai province in 2004.

METHODSPrimer pairs targeting the twenty-three different identified regions (DFRs) were designed to detect the presence or deletion of each DFR in 13 strains of Yersinia pestis isolated from the fulminant epidemic of human plague in Qinghai province in 2004.

RESULTSThere were 4 genomovars, i.e. Genomovar 8, 10, 15 and 16 in the 13 strains of Yersinia pestis identified. The genomovar of all the strains of Yersinia pestis isolated from Nangqian county was Genomovar 10. Among the two strains of Yersinia pestis isolated from Wulan county, the genomovar of one strain was Genomovar 8 and the other was Genomovar 10. The genomovars of all the strains of Yersinia pestis isolated from Qilian, Qumalai and Chengduo county belonged to Genomovar 16.

CONCLUSIONIt was demonstrated that the genotyping of Yersinia pestis appeared to be a powerful tool for investigating human plague epidemics.

China ; epidemiology ; Disease Outbreaks ; Genotype ; Humans ; Molecular Epidemiology ; Plague ; epidemiology ; Yersinia pestis ; genetics ; isolation & purification

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Liver ; pathology ; Liver Cirrhosis ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Receptor, Cannabinoid, CB1 ; analysis ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo determine the circular DNA level of patients with hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD) and evaluate its potential clinical value.

METHODSVenous blood in 30 healthy children and 78 patients with HFMD within 3 days of onset of illness and convalescent period was collected. The level of plasma circular DNA was detected by duplex real-time polymerase chain reaction assay. Blood sugar, high-sensitive CRP(hs-CRP) and leucocyte were also detected.

RESULTSThe level of circular DNA in control group was (6.57 +/- 4.67) ng/ml. The level of circular DNA in ordinary and severe HFMD patients was (11.51 +/- 7.75) ng/ml and (20.59 +/- 10.67) ng/ml before treatment, respectively. The levels of circular DNA in ordinary and severe HFMD patients were significantly higher than that in control group (P = 0.021; 0.000); the level of circular DNA in severe HFMD patients was significantly higher than that in ordinary HFMD patients (P = 0.011). The level of circular DNA in severe HFMD patients after treatment were significantly lower than that before treatment (P = 0.033). The level of circular DNA before treatment and after treatment in ordinary HFMD patients had no significant difference. The levels of blood sugar and hs-CRP in severe HFMD patients were higher than those in ordinary before treatment (P = 0.045; 0.011). The levels of blood sugar and hs-CRP before treatment and after treatment in ordinary HFMD patients had no significant change. There was significantly positive correlation between the level of circular DNA and that of hs-CRP in HFMD patient (P = 0.021), but there was no correlation between the level of circular DNA and that of blood sugar and leucocyte.

CONCLUSIONSThe level of circular DNA not only become an early identification marker of severe HFMD patients, but also become monitoring marker of effect of treatment.

Biomarkers ; Blood Glucose ; analysis ; C-Reactive Protein ; analysis ; Child, Preschool ; DNA, Circular ; blood ; Female ; Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease ; blood ; genetics ; Humans ; Infant ; Male

OBJECTIVETo characterize the hepatitis A virus (HAV) wild type strains circulating in Hebei Shijiazhuang of China during 2005-2007, to provide the bases for further investigation of the sources of HAV infection.

METHODSThe VP1/P2A junction regions were detected by RT-PCR from HAV IgM positives serum samples during 2005 and 2007, the 34 RT-PCR positive samples were sequenced and subjected to phylogenetic analysis by Neighbor Joining (NJ) method.

RESULTSAll the detected HAV strains were identified as sub-genotype I A, the homology of nucleotide sequence in the VP1-2A imation region ranged from 95%-100%, the amino acid sequences of HAV strains almost had no difference.

CONCLUSIONThere are different HAV strains existing in Hebei Shijiazhuang of China, same HAV strain may exist in different areas; or in one area, identical or different HAV strains may be detected. This work provides the bases for further investigation of the sources of HAV infection and also for effectively control measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

Acute Disease ; Adolescent ; Child ; China ; Female ; Hepatitis A ; virology ; Hepatitis A Virus, Human ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Male ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Viral Structural Proteins ; genetics ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo study the distribution of genomovars and microevolution of Yersinia pestis in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

METHODSPrimer pairs targeting the twenty-two different regions(DFRs) were designed for detecting the presence or deletion of each DFR in 297 strains isolated from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

RESULTS9 genomovars, i. e. Genomovar 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, new type and Ype-ancestor were identified in the Marmota himalayana plague focus of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Among these genomovars, genomovar 5,8 and 10 were dominant types. The total rate of the three genomovars was 80.6% (204/253) and the genomovars in different regions were different. All of 44 strains of Y. pestis in the Microtus fuscus plague focus of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau belonged to genomovar 14.

CONCLUSIONThe distribution of genomovars of Y. pestis in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau had remarkable characteristics geographically. Based on the distribution of genomovars of Y. pestis, the routes of transmission and microevolution of Y. pestis were proposed.

Biological Evolution ; China ; Geography ; Humans ; Plague ; transmission ; Yersinia pestis ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the interleukin 17 (IL-17) gene and serum protein levels in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

METHODSA total of 228 patients with chronic HCV infection and 81 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. The frequencies of IL-17 rs8193036 and rs2275913 polymorphisms were detected by the TaqMan SNP genotyping assay. Serum levels of IL-17 protein were detected by ELISA. Pairwise comparisons were made by the Chi-square test, and the significance of between-group differences was assessed by the Student's t-test with P less than 0.05.

RESULTSThe patients with chronic HCV infection and the healthy controls showed similar frequencies of the rs8193036 C/T allele (x2 = 1.428, P = 0.232) and the rs2275913 A/G allele (x2 = 0.106, P = 0.744). In addition, the two groups showed similar distribution of the rs8193036 CC (chronic HCV infection: 46.49% vs. healthy controls: 41.98%), CT (45.61% vs. 44.44%) and TT (7.89% vs. 13.58%) genotypes (x2 = 2.346, P = 0.309), and of the rs2275913 AA (16.23% vs. 13.58%), AG (48.25% vs. 50.62%) and GG (35.53% vs. 35.80%) genotypes (x2 = 0.340, P = 0.844). Subgroup analysis of chronic HCV infection patients stratified according to HCV genotypes 1 and 2 showed no differences in the distribution of rs8193036 and rs2275913 alleles (x2 = 1.127, P = 0.288; x2 = 1.088, P = 0.297) and genotypes (x2 = 2.825, P = 0.246; x2 = 0.970, P = 0.616). However, the chronic HCV infection group did show significantly higher levels of serum IL-17 than the controls (97.67+/-39.68 vs. 71.60+/-19.78 pg/ml, t = 2.414, P = 0.033).

CONCLUSIONChronic HCV infection is associated with increased serum IL-17; however, the IL-17 polymorphisms rs8193036 and rs2275913 were not associated with chronic HCV infection susceptibility in this study's Chinese cohort.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Alleles ; Case-Control Studies ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genotype ; Hepacivirus ; Hepatitis C, Chronic ; blood ; genetics ; virology ; Humans ; Interleukin-17 ; blood ; genetics ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the outcomes of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients treated with antiviral regimens of interferon (IFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) using individualized doses and durations.

METHODSThis study was designed as an open-label, prospective clinical trial to analyze the virological responses of 169 CHC patients who received individualized dosages of IFNa-2b or pegylated (Peg)IFNa-2a combined with RBV based on their weight ( less than 60 kg or more than or equal to 60 kg), age (less than 65 years or 65-75 years), morbid state (liver cirrhosis or not), and complications (such as heart disease, diabetes, thyroid disorder). Treatment duration was calculated using the time required to induce HCV RNA negativity. The rates of virological response and adverse effects among the different groups were compared.

RESULTSThe IFNa-2b treatment was given to 116 patients, and PegIFNa-2a was given to 53 patients. Compared to the IFNa-2b group, the PegIFNa-2a group showed significantly higher rates of complete early virological response (cEVR; 76.7% vs. 92.5%, P less than 0.05) and sustained virological response (SVR; 53.6% vs. 92.3%, P less than 0.05) among the patients who had completed their course of treatment; the rapid virological response (RVR) rate was also higher for the PegIFNa-2a group but the difference did not reach statistical significance (48.7% vs. 60.4%, P more than 0.05). Seventy-eight patients received the routine dose, and 91 patients received the low dose; there were no significant differences between these two groups for RVR (53.8% vs. 58.9%, P more than 0.05), cEVR (78.0% vs. 80.8%, P more than 0.05), or SVR (65.5% vs. 58.3%, P more than 0.05).

CONCLUSIONUse of an individualized antiviral treatment strategy designed according to the patient's baseline condition, early viral kinetics, and tolerability to adverse reactions can achieve a high rate of SVR, as well as improve the safety, prognosis, and cost-effectiveness associated with treating CHC patients.

Hepatitis C, Chronic ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; therapeutic use ; Polyethylene Glycols ; therapeutic use ; Prospective Studies ; Ribavirin ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome

Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; Betacoronavirus ; Coronavirus ; immunology ; Coronavirus Infections ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; immunology