Dengue virus (DENV) envelope [E] protein is the major surface protein of the virions that indued neutralizing antibodies. The domain III of envelope protein (EDIII) is an immunogenic region that holds potential for the development of vaccines; however, the epitopes of DENV EDIII, especially neutralizing B-cell linear epitopes, have not been comprehensively mapped. We mapped neutralizing B-cell linear epitopes on DENV-1 EDIII using 27 monoclonal antibodies against DENV-1 EDIII proteins from mice immunized with the DENV-1 EDIII. Epitope recognition analysis was performed using two set of sequential overlapping peptides (16m and 12m) that spanned the entire EDIII protein from DENV-1, respectively. This strategy identified a DENV-1 type- specific and a group-specific neutralizing epitope, which were highly conserved among isolates of DENV-1 and the four DENV serotypes and located at two regions from DENV-1 E, namely amino acid residues 309-320 and 381-392(aa 309-320 and 381-392), respectively. aa310 -319(310KEVAETQHGT319)was similar among the four DENV serotypes and contact residues on aa 309 -320 from E protein were defined and found that substitution of residues E309 , V312, A313 and V320 in DENV-2, -3, -4 isolates were antigenically silent. We also identified a DENV-1 type-specific strain-restricted neutralizing epitope, which was located at the region from DENV-1 E, namely amino acid residues 329-348 . These novel type- and group-specific B-cell epitopes of DENV EDIII may aid help us elucidate the dengue pathogenesis and accelerate vaccine design.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Antibodies, Neutralizing ; immunology ; Dengue ; virology ; Dengue Virus ; chemistry ; genetics ; immunology ; Epitope Mapping ; Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte ; chemistry ; genetics ; immunology ; Humans ; Mice ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Viral Envelope Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; immunology

Objective To investigate the effect of local injection of Botulinum toxin type A(BTXA) on spasticity and function of the affected upper limb in stroke patients.Methods A total of 32 stroke patients were re- cruited and randomly divided into two groups:a BTXA group and a control group.All the patients had spasticity of upper limb muscles,which scored grade 2 to 3 with the Modified Ashworth Scale(MAS) ,and decreased elbow joint range of motion.The 16 patients in the BTXA group received BTXA injection in the biceps brachii muscles and flexor muscles of forearm on 10～15 points,while those in the control group did not.All the patients in both groups were treated with rehabilitation training techniques.The MAS,Fugl-Meyer upper limb function assessment and Barthel In- dex were employed to evaluate the changes of muscle tone,upper limb function and activity of living (ADL)perform- ance of the patients before injection and at 1st,2nd,6th 12th weeks after injection.Results The therapeutic effect between the BTXA group anti control group was significantly different in terms of biceps muscle tone,the scores of Fugl-Meyer upper limb function assessment and Barthel Index.Compared with preinjection,muscle tone was de- creased significantly and ADL performance was improved after injection in BTXA group.The effects of BTXA lasted more than 12 weeks.Conclusion Intramuscular muhipoint injection of BTXA was useful in reducing muscle spas- ticity,and was helpful for increasing motor ability of the affected upper limb and ADL performance of the stroke pa- tients.

Objective To investigate the clinical feature and antibiotic resistance profile of K.pneumoniae isolates from patients for better management of K.pneumoniae infections.Methods Nonduplicate K.pneumoniae strains were collected from January to December in 2015.K.pneumoniae strains were identified by VITEK 2-Compact 60 and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility by KirbyBauer method.Results A total of 753 strains ofK.pneumoniae were included,most (40.9％,308/753) of which were isolated from sputum,followed by urine (18.2％,137/753).Most of the strains were from old patients at least 60 years of age (40.8％,307/753),and primarily from intensive care units (16.7％,126/753) and Department of Respiratory Medicine (13.7％,103/753).Respiratory tract infection was found in 144 patients,of which 71.5％ (103/144) were due to K.pneumoniae.More than half of the K.pneumoniae strains were resistant to piperacillin (66.3 ％),cefazolin (60.8 ％) and cefitroxime (59.4 ％).Only a few strain were resistant to imipenem (2.4 ％) and meropenem (2.0).ESBLs were produced in 410 (54.4 ％) of the 753 strains,and 29 (3.9 ％) strains were carbapenem-resistant,492 (65.3 ％) strains were resistant to multiple antimicrobial agents.Conclusions Clinical K.pneumoniae isolates are highly resistant to most of the antimicrobial agents tested.The strains were mostly isolated from sputum and urine,and positive for ESBLs.MDR K.pneumoniae sWains are emerging.K.pneumoniae isolates are still very susceptible to carbapenems in vitro.

Objective To observe the clinical curative effect of Gubenzhike granule on cough variant asthma (CVA), and explore its mechanism. Methods A total of 140 cases of CVA were randomly divided into two groups, 70 cases for each group. The treatment group took Gubenzhike granule orally, and the control group inhaled Budesonide Powder for Inhalation and Salbutamol Sulphate Aerosol, respectively for 8 weeks, with 8 weeks follow-up after treatment. The same nursing intervention was implemented in two groups. Cough symptom scores of the two groups were observed after treatment and at the end of follow-up, the number of eosnophils (EOS) and content of immunoglobulin E (IgE) in peripheral blood were also observed. Results The treatment group completed 67 cases and the control group completed 66 cases. After treatment, the cough symptom scores, EOS and IgE in two groups were significantly reduced (P<0.01, P<0.05), and the cough symptom score of treatment group decreased more significantly than that of control group (P<0.01). The total effective rate and recurrence rate were 91.04%and 9.84%in treatment group, and 83.33% and 30.91% in control group. The total effective rate of treatment group was better than the control group (P<0.01), and the recurrence rate was lower than the control group (P<0.01). Conclusion Gubenzhike granule showed significant effect and low recurrence rate on CVA. Good anti-inflammatory and antianaphylaxis effects may be one of its mechanisms.

Objective To assess the values of automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) for differentiating of benign and malignant breast masses.Methods A total 174 breast masses in 148 patients were subjected both to conventional handheld B-mode ultrasound (HHUS) and ABVS examinations.The masses were defined as five categories of benign,probably benign,equivocal,probably malignant,and malignant with each method.The results of ABVS and HHUS were compared with pathology.By using the definitive diagnosis and the five levels of suspicion categories,receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were drawn to evaluate their diagnostic results.In addition,the diagnostic accuracy for breast masses of futures including retraction phenomenon and hyperechoic rim in coronal plane of ABVS was evaluated.Results The area under the ROC curve of ABVS (0.927) was larger than that of HHUS (0.903) (Z =2.256,P =0.024).The specificity and the positive predictive values both reached to 100％ and false positive rate was 0 with retraction phenomenon,and the specificity and the negative predictive value were 88.89％ and 94.51％ respectively with hyperechoic rim in coronal plane of ABVS.Conclusions ABVS plays an important role in the clinical practice.The retraction phenomenon and hyperechoic rim of breast masses in coronal plane of this new modality have high specialty for differentiating malignant from benign breast masses.

Abstract: Objective　To investigate the molecular characteristics and drug resistance of non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae in Zhongshan City, and to provide laboratory basis for cholera prevention and control. Methods　The strains of non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae isolated from sporadic patients and aquatic products from 2015 to 2021 in Zhongshan city were collected. The identification and cluster analysis of the strains were analyzed by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), the ctxA virulence gene of strains were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR, the cluster analysis of the strains was analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and the drug resistance of the strains were analyzed by microbroth dilution method. Results　From 2015 to 2021, 33 strains of non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae were isolated from Zhongshan City, including 28 strains from sporadic patients and 5 strains from aquatic products. Through MALDI-TOF-MS identification, 33 strains of non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholera can be identified to the level of species, and the identification results were all Vibrio cholerae. Among 33 non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae strains, 1 strain carried the ctxA virulence gene. The drug-resistant strains accounted for 69.7% (23/33), and the multidrug resistant strains accounted for 18.2% (6/33). A total of 7 kinds of drug resistance spectrum were produced, including 3 kinds of multidrug resistant spectrum, and showed drug resistance to 8 antibiotics, among which the resistance rates to streptomycin, cefazolin and compound sulfamethoxazole were above 30%. The 33 strains of non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae were divided into 32 PFGE fingerprints with a similarity ranging from 61.7% to 100%. MALDI-TOF-MS cluster analysis divided 33 non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae strains into two clusters. Conclusions The results of molecular typing of non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae in Zhongshan City presented diversity, and no significant correlation was found between PFGE and MALDI-TOF-MS cluster analysis. The strains demonstrated various degrees of resistance to certain antibiotics, and there were multidrug-resistant and toxigenic strains. Therefore, it is necessary to alert to the harmfulness of non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae and enhance monitoring.

Objective To examine how stroke affects muscle coordination and whether muscle function will be improved after rehabilitation.Methods Ten stroke patients with mild hemiparesis and six age-and sex-matched controls were investigated at baseline.Velocity-encoded phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (VE-PC MRI) and surface eleetromyography (sEMG) were performed to evaluate muscle coordination of thigh muscles during knee extension and flexion and the effect of rehabilitation. Results Using VE-PC MRI,we found that the peak velocity of rectus femoris was lower in the affected limb (P

Animals ; Bromodeoxyuridine ; metabolism ; Cerebral Cortex ; injuries ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Nerve Regeneration ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship of the levels of proteins in parotid saliva, whole saliva and dental plaque fluid with caries susceptibility.

METHODSSixty-six of university students were selected as subjects, 39 in caries-free group (CF, DMFS = 0) and 27 in caries-susceptible group (CS, DMFS >/= 8 and DT >/= 3). Total protein concentration was detected with Lowry method. Protein compositions were separated with SDS-PAGE and alkaline electrophoresis. The gels were analyzed using an image evaluation system.

RESULTSTotal protein level in dental plaque fluid was about 10-fold higher than that in saliva. Whole saliva was closely related to dental plaque fluid in terms of proteins only in CF group (r = 0.804), but there was little relation in CS group. The proteins that occurred in all three fluids were 14 000, 66 000 and 76 000 proteins. The 14 000, 15 000 and 38 000 proteins level in dental plaque fluid and 14 000 protein level in whole saliva were significantly lower in CS group than in CF group.

CONCLUSIONSThe proteins of dental plaque fluid are influenced significantly by whole saliva in CF group. The results suggest some kinds of proteins in dental plaque fluid and in whole saliva might play important roles against caries.

Dental Caries ; etiology ; Dental Plaque ; chemistry ; Disease Susceptibility ; Humans ; Molecular Weight ; Proteins ; analysis ; Saliva ; chemistry ; Salivary Proteins and Peptides ; analysis

Objective To evaluate enteral nutrition treatment on nutritional status of patients with esophageal cancer during radiotherapy in Chinese population. Methods We searched domestic and foreign relevant databases (PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, Wanfang Data, Chinese Journal Database, VMIS) by key words (esophageal cancer, chemoradiotherapy, enteral nutrition) , meeting the conditions of the clinical randomized controlled trials, and evaluated the quality of each document. We used meta-analysis method to analysis the published literatures about clinical randomized controlled trials, which were enteral nutrition treatment on nutritional status of patients with esophageal cancer during radiotherapy in Chinese population.RevMan5.1 statistical analysis software were used. Results Seven separate clinical randomized controlled trials including 503 cases were included into the meta-analysis. The following five indexes of nutritional status in enteral nutrition treatment (ENT) group were superior to routine treatment (RT) group (P<0.05): body weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), hemoglobin, serum albumin, serum prealbumin. The MD Values and 95％CI (confidence interval) were 5.54 (3.61-7.46), 2.20 (2.02-2.39), 12.46 (5.86-19.05), 4.04 (2.48-5.61), 49.53 (20.93-78.13) .The funnel plot showed no significant publication bias in each indexes. Conclusion Enteral nutrition treatment can improve the nutritional status of patients with esophageal cancer during radiotherapy compare only with routine treatment.