Aptamers are a group of artificial oligonucleotides identified by exponential enrichment system evolution technology (Selective expansion of ligands by exponential enrichment, SELEX). Aptamers have been widely used in basic research, clinical diagnostics, and nano-technology. In this article we will introduce the technology of aptamer and summarize its applications in medical microbiology.
Aptamers, Nucleotide ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Microbiological Techniques ; methods ; Microbiology ; SELEX Aptamer Technique ; methods ; trends

Objective:To explore the effect of traditional teaching and standardized patient (SP) teaching in medical students' inquiry teaching through the phased examination results of practicing physicians.Methods:A total of 107 students from Class 1 and Class 2 of Batch 2013 majoring in clinical medicine of Qinghai University were selected as the control group, and 100 students from Class 1 and Class 2 of Batch 2014 were selected as the experimental group. In the inquiry teaching, the control group adopted the traditional teaching method, and the experimental group adopted the SP teaching method. The effect of the two groups of teaching methods was compared by collecting the scores of the medical history of the medical practitioners in the phased examination. SPSS 18.0 was used for t-test. Results:The scores of current medical history (81.43±8.19), case collection (8.19±0.70), inquiry content (47.63±4.55), examiner's total score (73.75±5.21), and total score (91.93±5.67) in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group [(71.65±8.29) (7.85±0.68) (43.68±4.76) (69.68±5.40) and (88.03±6.01)] and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.001). The scores of communication ability (8.94±0.62) question expression (4.54±0.44) and communication skills (4.52±0.47) in the comprehensive performance of the control group were higher than those in the experimental group [(8.77±0.60) (4.33±0.54) and (4.38±0.46), respectively], and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). Conclusion:The overall teaching effect of the SP teaching is better than that of the traditional teaching, but it has its own advantages and disadvantages in specific knowledge points. It is worth further discussion to combine the two to complement the advantages and complement each other to assist medical education.

Objective: To analyze the trends in disease burden of tuberculosis among children under 5 years of age in China from 1990 to 2021, so as to provide insights for future tuberculosis control measures among children in China. Methods: Based on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 datasets, the incidence, prevalence, mortality and disability adjusted life year(DALY) of tuberculosis of children under 5 years of age in China and globally were collected from 1990 to 2021. The incidence, prevalence, mortality and DALY rate of tuberculosis were compared by genders and types. In addition,the annual percent change(APC) and the average annual percent change(AAPC) of children s tuberculosis burden in China and globally from 1990 to 2021 were calculated by using the Joinpoint regression model, and the changing trends were analyzed. Results: The numbers of incident, prevalent and dead tuberculosis cases were 9 700, 8 477 800 and 200 among children under 5 years of age in China in 2021, and the DALY due to tuberculosis were 27 100 person years. There were significant reductions in incidence, prevalence, mortality and DALY rate of tuberculosis among children under 5 years of age in China ( AAPC =-5.45%, -1.14%, -12.37%, -11.34 %) and globally( AAPC =-2.38%, -1.41%, -4.66%, -4.56%), and the reductions in the incidence, mortality and DALY rate were more significant in China than globally ( P <0.05).In 1992 and later, the numbers of incident, prevalent and dead tuberculosis cases and the DALY of tuberculosis were higher among male than among female. In addition, the disease burden of drug susceptible tuberculosis appeared a tendency of downward in China from 1990 to 2021, while the incidence and prevalence of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis rose since 2015. Conclusions The disease burden of tuberculosis remarkably reduced among children under 5 years of age in China from 1990 to 2021. However, the burden of disease due to multidrug resistant tuberculosis appeared an upward trend recently. Increased attention is required to be paid to the prevention and control of tuberculosis among children and improved diagnosis and treatment of drug resistant tuberculosis are recommended.

Glycolytic metabolism enzymes have been implicated in the immunometabolism field through changes in metabolic status. PGK1 is a catalytic enzyme in the glycolytic pathway. Here, we set up a high-throughput screen platform to identify PGK1 inhibitors. DC-PGKI is an ATP-competitive inhibitor of PGK1 with an affinity of K _d = 99.08 nmol/L. DC-PGKI stabilizes PGK1 in vitro and in vivo, and suppresses both glycolytic activity and the kinase function of PGK1. In addition, DC-PGKI unveils that PGK1 regulates production of IL-1β and IL-6 in LPS-stimulated macrophages. Mechanistically, inhibition of PGK1 with DC-PGKI results in NRF2 (nuclear factor-erythroid factor 2-related factor 2, NFE2L2) accumulation, then NRF2 translocates to the nucleus and binds to the proximity region of Il-1β and Il-6 genes, and inhibits LPS-induced expression of these genes. DC-PGKI ameliorates colitis in the dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis mouse model. These data support PGK1 as a regulator of macrophages and suggest potential utility of PGK1 inhibitors in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.