Objective To investigate the geographical distribution and seasonal fluctuations of visceral leishmaniasis vectors sandflies in Henan Province in 2023, so as to provide insights into the prevention and control of visceral leishmaniasis vectors. Methods A total of 23 counties (districts) were sampled from 18 cities of Henan Province from May to September, 2023 as sandfly surveillance sites, and sandflies were captured using human capture and light trapping methods. Following morphological identification, the changes in the sandfly density were calculated at different months and in different breeding habitats. Results A total of 406 light traps were set at sandfly surveillance sites in Henan Province from May to September, 2023, and a total of 3 137 female sandlies were captured, with an average density of 7.73 sandlies/(light·night). A total of 1 494 Phlebotomus chinensis sandflies were captured, including 1 222 female sandflies, with an average density of 3.01 sandflies/(light·night), and the highest density of P. chinensis was found in Gongyi City [17.00 sandflies/(light·night)]. A total of 5 544 sandflies were captured using the human capture method, including 230 P. chinensis, and the density of P. chinensis appeared a unimodal distribution, with a peak in early July [5.81 sandflies/(light·night)]. Among different breeding habitats, the highest P. chinensis density was detected in pigpens [4.50 sandflies/(light·night)]. Conclusions P. chinensis was predominantly distributed in hilly areas of northern and central-western Henan Province in 2023, and the sandfly density appeared a unimodal distribution. Intensified monitoring of visceral leishmaniasis vectors is recommended.

Objective To characterize the species of common sandflies in Henan Province using DNA barcoding with cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene as the molecular marker, and to analyze the genetic polymorphisms of sandflies, so as to provide insights into visceral leishmaniasis prevention and control in Henan Province. Methods Sandfly specimens were sampled from 13 sandflies surveillance sites from 2021 to 2023 in Anyang City, Zhengzhou, Luoyang and Xuchang cities (Zhengzhou-Luoyang-Xuchang areas) where visceral leishmaniasis cases were reported and in Jiaozuo and Xinxiang cities (Jiaozuo-Xinxiang areas) without visceral leishmaniasis cases reported. Genomic DNA was extracted from a single sandfly, and COI gene was amplified. The amplification product was subjected to bidirectional sequencing. Following sequence assembly, the species of sandflies was characterized through sequence alignment using the BLAST tool. The intra-specific and inter-specific genetic distances of sandflies were estimated among different areas using the software Mega 11, and phylogenetic trees were created. The polymorphisms of nucleotide sequences in the sandflies COI gene were estimated using the software DnaSP. The fixation index (F_ST) of different geographical isolates of sandflies was calculated using the Arlequin software, and the gene flow value (Nm) was used to measure the gene flow in the sandflies populations. In addition, the population genetic structure of different geographical populations of Phlebotomus chinensis was analyzed using the STRUCTURE software. Results A total of 978 sandflies were collected from 13 sandflies surveillance sites in Zhengzhou-Luoyang-Xuchang areas, Jiaozuo-Xinxiang areas and Anyang City of Henan Province from 2021 to 2023, and 475 sandflies were randomly sampled for subsequent detections. A total of 304 Ph. chinensis, 162 Se. squamirostris and 9 Se. bailyi were identified based on molecular biological detection of the COI gene, and Se. bailyi was reported for the first time in Henan Province. The intraspecific genetic distances of sandflies were 0.000 to 0.040, and the inter-specific genetic distances ranged from 0.133 to 0.161. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that each of the three sandfly species was clustered into a clade. The genetic polymorphisms of Ph. chinensis populations varied among different areas, with the highest haplotype diversity (0.966 ± 0.007) and the greatest nucleotide diversity (0.011) in Zhengzhou-Luoyang-Xuchang areas, and the lowest haplotype diversity (0.720 ± 0.091) and nucleotide diversity (0.004) in Anyang City. The dominant haplotype of Ph. chinensis populations was Pch_Hap_2 in Anyang City and Jiaozuo-Xinxiang areas, with moderate genetic differentiation (0.05 < F_ST < 0.15) and frequent gene exchange (Nm value > 1) between Ph. chinensis populations sampled from Anyang City, and Jiaozuo-Xinxiang areas. Population genetic structure analysis showed that the dominant component of Ph. chinensis populations was K5 in Anyang City and Jiaozuo-Xinxiang areas. No obvious dominant haplotype was observed in Ph. chinensis populations sampled from Zhengzhou-Luoyang-Xuchang areas, which had very high genetic differentiation (F_ST > 0.25) and little gene exchange (Nm value < 1) with Ph. chinensis populations from Anyang City, and Jiaozuo-Xinxiang areas, with K3 as the dominant component. In addition, there was no significant difference in the genetic polymorphism level among Se. squamirostris populations from the three areas. Conclusions There are Ph. chinensis, Se. squamirostris and Se. bailyi in Henan Province, and S. bailyi is recorded for the first time in Henan Province by molecular biological assays. There are different levels of genetic differentiation and gene exchange among P. chinensis populations in different areas of Henan Province.

Objective To analyze the characteristics of visceral leishmaniasis cases in Henan Province, so as to provide insights into formulation of the visceral leishmaniasis control srtrategy. Methods All epidemiological data of reported visceral leishmaniasis cases in Henan Province from 2021 to 2023 were retrieved from the National Notifiable Disease Report Information Management System of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the epidemiological features and diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis cases were descriptively analyzed. Results A total of 93 visceral leishmaniasis cases were reported in Henan Province from 2021 to 2023, with a male to female ratio of 2.58∶1, and including 2 imported cases from other provinces and 91 local cases. The number of visceral leishmaniasis cases peaked during the period between March and May, and between July and October. The reported visceral leishmaniasis cases had ages of 7 months to 74 years, with the largest number of cases found at ages of 0 to 9 years (26 cases, 27.96%), followed by at ages of 60 to 70 years (24 cases, 25.81%). Farmer (47 cases, 50.54%) and diaspora children (19 cases, 20.43%) were predominant occupations, and 91 local visceral leishmaniasis cases were found in 6 cities of Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Anyang, Hebi, Sanmenxia and Xuchang. The median duration from onset of visceral leishmaniasis to diagnosis was 20 days, and there were 25.81% (24/93) cases with 10 days and less duration from onset to diagnosis, 38.71% (36/93) cases receiving diagnosis at 11 to 30 days following onset, and 35.48% (33/93) cases receiving diagnosis for more than 30 days following onset. All cases were predominantly diagnosed in province- (60.00%) and city-level (28.89%) medical institutions. Conclusions The number of visceral leishmaniasis is on the rise in Henan Province, with a gradually expanding coverage. Intensified monitoring of visceral leishmaniasis cases, dogs, and vectors, dog management, sandflies control and improved individual protection are recommended to prevent the spread of visceral leishmaniasis.

Objective Through a multi-software visual analysis of the literature on the influence of T cells on rheumatoid arthritis(RA)in recent ten years,the research hotspot and frontier development in this field were summarized.Methods The Chinese and English literature on the influence of T cells on RA from 2012 to 2022 years was retrieved from CNKI and Web of Science database as the research object.CiteSpace and VOSviewer software were used to analyze the number of publications,authors and keywords.Results 519 articles in Chinese and 861 in English were retrieved.The results showed that the number of articles in Chinese increased slowly from 2020 to 2022 years,while the overall trend in English was stable.Keyword analysis shows that it is predicted that future research in this field will focus on the pathogenesis of T cells in RA,the mechanism of bone destruction in RA,disease activity,oxidative stress.Conclusion The influence of T cells on RA has attracted much attention in the past,present and future,and has great research value.However,due to the differences in research priorities at home and abroad,the teams should interact positively and communicate with each other to reveal the internal mechanism of RA and provide theoretical basis for targeted therapy.

Objective To study and verify the function of de novo interferon regulatory factor(IRF8)frameshift mutation detected in an etiology screening of the cohort of children with recurrent pneumonia at the molecular level.Methods The recombinant overexpression plasmids with wildtype or mutated IRF8 genes were constructed to transiently transfect HEK293T cells,or packed into lentivirus to infect two kinds of immune cell lines.Q-PCR,Western blot,immunofluorescence and other experimental assays were performed to explore the differences of expression and the regulatory effect on downstream genes associated with inflammation.Results The recombinant vectors with wildtype or mutated IRF8 genes were constructed successfully,and the efficiency of transfection by plasmids and infection by packed lentivirus was remarkable as well.Compared with wildtype,the molecular weight of IRF8 variant was slightly increased,while the expression level presents in opposition,even if on transcription level.Moreover,the localization of IRF8 variant was detected in abundance in nucleus rather than cytoplasm,and its inhibition effect was enhanced on the downstream ISRE element in comparison with the wildtype IRF8 protein.Conclusion The de novo frameshift mutation was presumed as gain-of-function(GOF)mutation.

Objective To investigate the incidence rate,clinical characteristics,and prognosis of neonatal stroke in Shenzhen,China.Methods Led by Shenzhen Children's Hospital,the Shenzhen Neonatal Data Collaboration Network organized 21 institutions to collect 36 cases of neonatal stroke from January 2020 to December 2022.The incidence,clinical characteristics,treatment,and prognosis of neonatal stroke in Shenzhen were analyzed.Results The incidence rate of neonatal stroke in 21 hospitals from 2020 to 2022 was 1/15 137,1/6 060,and 1/7 704,respectively.Ischemic stroke accounted for 75％(27/36);boys accounted for 64％(23/36).Among the 36 neonates,31(86％)had disease onset within 3 days after birth,and 19(53％)had convulsion as the initial presentation.Cerebral MRI showed that 22 neonates(61％)had left cerebral infarction and 13(36％)had basal ganglia infarction.Magnetic resonance angiography was performed for 12 neonates,among whom 9(75％)had involvement of the middle cerebral artery.Electroencephalography was performed for 29 neonates,with sharp waves in 21 neonates(72％)and seizures in 10 neonates(34％).Symptomatic/supportive treatment varied across different hospitals.Neonatal Behavioral Neurological Assessment was performed for 12 neonates(33％,12/36),with a mean score of(32±4)points.The prognosis of 27 neonates was followed up to around 12 months of age,with 44％(12/27)of the neonates having a good prognosis.Conclusions Ischemic stroke is the main type of neonatal stroke,often with convulsions as the initial presentation,involvement of the middle cerebral artery,sharp waves on electroencephalography,and a relatively low neurodevelopment score.Symptomatic/supportive treatment is the main treatment method,and some neonates tend to have a poor prognosis.

Objective To explore the relationship between the status of infarct related artery(IRA)occlusion and thrombus types in patients with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction(NSTEMI)using optical coherence tomography(OCT).Methods A total of 170 NSTEMI patients who underwent emergency percutaneous coronary intervention at Henan Provincial People1s Hospital from October 2021 to August 2023 and underwent OCT examination were included in the study.Among them,83 cases were in the total occlusion group and 87 cases were in the non-total occlusion group.The baseline characteristics,coronary angiography findings,and OCT results of the patients were compared and analyzed.Results Compared with the non-total occlusion group,the patients in the total occlusion group were more younger(P=0.013),the proportion of male was higher(P=0.026),and the proportion of patients with hypertension(P=0.010)and diabetes(P=0.033)was lower.In the total occlusion group,left circumflex artery(LCX)served as the main IRA,whereas in the non-total occlusion group,left anterior descending(LAD)was the predominant IRA(P=0.012);In addition,there was a significantly higher occurrence of rentrop grade Ⅱ～Ⅲ in the total occlusion group compared to the non-total occlusion group(P=0.022).The OCT results showed that in most cases,the total occlusion group was caused by plaque rupture events(P=0.014),mainly red/mixed thrombus(P＜0.001);The non-total occlusion group was more commonly associated with plaque erosion events(P=0.014),with white thrombus being the main cause(P＜0.001).Conclusions Total occlusion of infarct-related artery in NSTEMI patients often occurs in the LCX,and the patient is more younger,the thrombus type is mainly red/mixed thrombus,while non-total occlusion lesions are mainly white thrombus.

Objective:To investigate value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS)in predicting ischemic-type biliary lesions(ITBLs)in patients with thickened hilar bile duct wall at early stage after liver transplantation.Methods:A total of 45 patients,who underwent liver transplantation at the Liver Transplantation Center of Beijing Friendship Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University from June 25,2020 to December 28,2022,and occurred hilar bile duct wall thickening at early stage after surgery,were prospectively included.CEUS was performed on biliary tract when the thickened hilar bile duct wall was first detected by routine ultrasound,and the enhanced mode of duct wall at each phase was recorded.Subsequently,according to the results of cholangiography,these patients were divided into ITBLs group(15 cases)and non-ITBLS group(30 cases).The enhanced degree of each phase of CEUS of two groups was qualitatively analyzed and compared,and the diagnostic efficacy of CEUS for ITBLs after liver transplantation was evaluated.Results:There were no significant differences in source of liver donor,biliary anastomosis,autoimmune liver disease,hepatic artery occlusion(HAO),rejection,cytomegalovirus infection and cholangitis between the two groups(P>0.05).The compared results of the enhanced mode of CEUS at arterial phase between the two groups indicated that 25 patients(83.3%)were hyper-enhancement,and 5 patients(16.7%)were iso-enhancement,and 0 patient was hypo-enhancement or non-enhancement in non-ITBLS group.The compared results also indicated that 3 patients(20.0%)were hyper-enhancement,and 4 patients(26.7%)were iso-enhancement,and 8 patients(53.3%)were hypo-enhancement or non-enhancement in ITBLs group.The difference of above results between the two groups was statistically significant(x2=22.946,P<0.000).There was no significant difference between the two groups in the enhanced mode at the late phase(P>0.05).The accuracy,sensitivity,specificity,positively predictive value and negatively predictive value of the prompted hypo-enhancement or non-enhancement at arterial phase of CEUS on biliary tract were respectively 84.4%,53.3%,100%,100%and 84.4%in diagnosing ITBLs.For 8 patients who were diagnosed as ITBLs by CEUS,the diagnostic time of CEUS for ITBLs was 1 to 6 months[3.0(1-5)months]ahead of that of cholangiography.Conclusion:CEUS can more accurately predict ITBLs before the biliary tract occurs significant morphological change,which can significantly advance the diagnostic time for ITBLs.

Objective To screen the influencing factors of hepatitis C cirrhosis patients progressing to hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)using commonly used laboratory testing indicators,establish a prediction model using these indicators and validate them.Methods A total of 231 patients with hepatitis C cirrhosis and 179 patients with hepatitis C HCC hospitalized at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University between June 2020 and May 2023 were enrolled as the training set,and 105 patients with hepatitis C cirrhosis and 86 patients with hepatitis C HCC hospitalized between June 2023 and February 2024 were enrolled as the validation set.The routine laboratory test indexes of the study subjects in the two groups within the training set were compared,and logistic regression analysis was applied to screen the independent predictors of hepatocellular carcinoma occurrence.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to construct the curve model and validate the model.Results The age,male ratio,ALT,AST,AFP,WBC,NEU,MO,PLT,MPV,PDW,Fbg,NLR and PLR levels of the HCC group were higher than those of the cirrhosis group in the training set(H=-9.07～-2.19),while the levels of INR and LMR were lower than those of the cirrhosis group(H=-4.49,-2.65),and the differences were significant(all P＜0.05).The differences in TP,eGFR,LY and AST/ALT values between the two groups of patients were not significant(H=-1.46～-0.15,all P＞0.05).Multifactorial Logistic regression analysis showed that age(OR=1.048,95％CI:1.023～1.074),Male(OR=1.467,95％CI:1.413～1.765),AST(OR=1.010,95％CI:1.002～1.019),NEU(OR=1.186,95％CI:1.018～1.382)and Fbg(OR=2.245,95％CI:1.639～3.076)were independent risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma patients(all P＜0.05),and these five independent risk factors were used to construct the HCC column-line graph prediction model,with the AUC for the training set and the validation set AUC(95％Cl)were 0.813(0.771～0.854)and 0.712(0.639～0.784),respectively,and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed a good fit of the model with P=0.650 for the training set and P=0.310 for the validation set.Conclusion The prediction model of HCC based on age,gender,AST,NEU and Fbg can have good predictive efficacy and clinical application value.

Objective:To investigate the efficacy and safety of protein A immunoadsorption (PAIA) combined with rituximab (RTX) in highly sensitized patients who underwent haplo-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT) .Methods:The clinical data of 56 highly sensitized patients treated with PAIA and RTX before haplo-HSCT at the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University and Soochow Hopes Hematonosis Hospital between March 2021 and June 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. The number of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibody types and the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI), humoral immunity, adverse reactions during adsorption, and survival within 100 days before and after adsorption were measured.Results:After receiving the PAIA treatment, the median MFI of patients containing only HLA Ⅰ antibodies decreased from 7 859 (3 209-12 444) to 3 719 (0-8 275) ( P<0.001), and the median MFI of HLA Ⅰ+Ⅱ antibodies decreased from 5 476 (1 977-12 382) to 3 714 (0-11 074) ( P=0.035). The median MFI of patients with positive anti-donor-specific antibodies decreased from 8 779 (2 697-18 659) to 4 524 (0–15 989) ( P<0.001). The number of HLA-A, B, C, DR, and DQ antibodies in all patients decreased after the PAIA treatment, and the differences were statistically significant (A, B, C, DR: P<0.001, DQ: P<0.01). The humoral immune monitoring before and after the PAIA treatment showed a significant decrease in the number of IgG and complement C3 ( P<0.001 and P=0.002, respectively). Forty-four patients underwent HLA antibody monitoring after transplantation, and the overall MFI and number of antibody types decreased. However, five patients developed new antibodies with low MFI, and nine patients continued to have high MFI. The overall survival, disease-free survival, non-recurrent mortality, and cumulative recurrence rates at 100 days post-transplantation were 83.8%, 80.2%, 16.1%, and 4.5%, respectively. Conclusions:The combination of PAIA and RTX has a certain therapeutic effect and good safety in the desensitization treatment of highly sensitive patients before haplo-HSCT.