Objective To investigate the characteristics of VP1 gene hypervariable region in hu-man enterovirus type 68(HEV68)strains isolated in China. Methods Nucleotide sequences of the VP1 gene in the Chinese strains and strains isolated in other countries were aligned by using Clustal W in the MEGA6 program. The phylogenetic trees were constructed by using Neighbor-Joining(NJ)method in the MEGA6 program. Sequence of the amino acids encoded by that region was analyzed by compared with that of the standard strain Fermon. Results A total of 80 strains of EV68 had been isolated in China by the end of 2015. Most of the mutations occurred in BC and DE loops. The mutation sites lied in the VP1 gene of Chi-nese isolates were at 83,89,91,94,96,97,98,102,109,139,141,142,143,144 and 147. Glycine was missing from most of the amino acid sequences encoded by the VP1 gene of Chinese strains. The phylo-genetic analysis indicated that 53 and 21 EV68 strains isolated in China belonged to B and C clades,respec-tively. Conclusion Compared with the standard strain Fermon,the Chinese strains changed a lot in BC-loop and DE-loop,which were associated with the antigenicity and virulence of EV68. The EV68 strains iso-lated in China belonged to B and C clades.

Inguinal hernia is one of the most common surgical diseases, mainly in men and elderly people, and its occurrence and development are related to many risk factors. At present, inguinal hernia can only be cured with surgery, which requires the selection of surgical methods based on patients′ conditions, medical resources and surgeons′ skills. With the aging of the popula-tion, it is expected that the number of inguinal hernia patients will continue to increase. The authors review the epidemiology, risk factors and characteristics of surgical treatment mode of inguinal hernia based on the epidemiological studies of inguinal hernia in recent years.

Objective:To describe the prevalence of heart failure in China and to explore the prospective association between smoking behavior and the risk of incident heart failure.Methods:The subjects were from the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) and the baseline survey was conducted from June 2004 to July 2008. A total of 487 197 subjects were included in this study, after excluding those with missing BMI information, lost follow-up immediately after baseline investigation, and self-reported coronary heart disease, stroke, or malignant tumor at baseline. This study included data from baseline and follow-up until December 31, 2016. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the association between smoking behavior and the risk of heart failure.Results:The median follow-up time was 10.15 years, during which a total of 4 208 new cases of heart failure occurred, with a crude incidence rate of 0.87/1 000 person-years and a cumulative incidence rate of 0.86%. The higher the age at baseline, the higher the incidence of heart failure. The incidence of heart failure in high age group, rural area and male was higher than that in low age group, urban area and female population respectively. Compared with non-smokers, there was no significant difference in the risk of heart failure in occasional smokers ( HR=1.05; 95% CI: 0.91-1.22), while former smokers ( HR=1.48; 95% CI:1.31-1.67) and current smokers ( HR=1.34;95% CI:1.22-1.49) increased risk. Former smokers ( HR=1.33;95% CI:1.21-1.46) and current smokers ( HR=1.46; 95% CI:1.31-1.64) had higher risk of heart failure than non-smokers or occasional smokers. No dose-response relationship was observed between the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the risk of heart failure in current and former smokers (for trend P=0.347 and 0.066). Compared with non-smokers or occasional smokers, the hazard ratios of <5, 5-, 10- and ≥20 years since quit smoking were 1.61 (95% CI: 1.36-1.92), 1.55 (95% CI: 1.27-1.90), 1.24 (95% CI: 1.02-1.51) and 1.35 (95% CI: 1.08-1.68), respectively (for trend P=0.091). The hazard ratios of quitting smoking due to disease and other reasons were 1.62 (95% CI:1.41-1.86) and 1.23 (95% CI: 1.04-1.45). Healthy smoking behaviors had a significant protective effect on heart failure compared with non-healthy smoking behaviors ( HR=0.75, 95% CI:0.69-0.81). Area and family history of coronary heart disease, and the smoking behaviors interacted with the risk of heart failure (for all interactions were P<0.05). Conclusions:The incidence of heart failure in China is higher in males than females, higher in rural areas than in urban areas, and increases with age. Both former smokers and current smokers had a higher risk of heart failure than nonsmokers or occasional smokers, regardless of the frequency, amount, duration, and reason for quitting. Smoking is an important risk factor for heart failure and comprehensive anti-smoking measures should be maintained.

Objective To investigate a convenient and quantitative solution to activation levels and functional characterization of CAR-T cells by inserting T cell activity-responsive promoter (TARP) nanoluciferase reporter gene system into a lentiviral plasmid containing the gene encoding the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). Methods The recombinant plasmid was constructed by using whole gene synthesis and molecular cloning techniques. The lentivirus was packaged and was infected with human primary T lymphocytes. Flow cytometry was used to detected the positive rate of lentivirus-infected T cells. The functional characterization of CAR-T cells was identified by luciferase reporter gene system, Western blot, flow cytometry, and small animal live imaging techniques. Results The results of enzyme digestion identification and the plasmid sequencing showed that the recombinant plasmids were constructed, and flow cytometry displayed the normal preparation of CAR-T cells. This system could dynamically respond to the activation of CAR-T cells by luciferase reporter gene system. The functional assay in vitro confirmed that the system could reflect the exhaustion of CAR-T cells, and the small animal live imaging results demonstrated that the system can be used as a tracer of CAR-T cells in mice. Conclusion TARP nanoluciferase reporter gene system provides a more convenient, sensitive and quantitative method for evaluating CAR-T cells activation level, exhaustion phenotype and tracing.
Humans ; Animals ; Mice ; T-Lymphocytes ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Receptors, Chimeric Antigen/genetics* ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Immunotherapy, Adoptive/methods*

Aging/metabolism* ; Animals ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Macaca fascicularis ; Retina/metabolism* ; Single-Cell Analysis