Objective:To investigate the status quo of subclinical thyroid diseases in the faculty and staff of a university and to explore their affecting factors.Methods:A total of 4 219 faculty and staff members who met the exclusion criteria and underwent the health examination in the Community Health Service Center of Beijing Jiaotong University in 2021 were enrolled in the study. General clinical data and laboratory findings of the enrolled subjects were collected. According to the upper and low reference range of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in our laboratory (0.35-5.5 μIU/ml), subjects were classified into subclinical hyperthyroidism group, subclinical hypothyroidism group and normal thyroidism group. The association of gender, age and body mass index (BMI), as well as the metabolic indices with the prevalence of subclinical thyroid disease was analyzed.Results:The prevalence rates of subclinical hypothyroidism and subclinical hyperthyroidism were 4.10% (173/4 219) and 0.69% (29/4 219), respectively. The prevalence of subclinical thyroid diseases in females was higher than that in males(5.90% (77/2 101) vs. 3.66%(125/2 018),χ 2=11.58, P<0.05); there was a significant difference in prevalence among different age groups(χ 2=39.49, P<0.05)and the prevalence increased with the age. There were significant differences in levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), diastolic blood pressure(DBP), fasting blood glucose (FBG), free triiodothyronine (FT 3), free thyroxine (FT 4), thyroglobulin antibody (TGAb) and thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) among three groups ( P<0.05). TSH levels were positively correlated with the age ( r=0.58, P<0.001), and levels of TG ( r=0.66, P<0.001), TC ( r=0.67, P<0.001), LDL-C ( r=0.62, P<0.001), TPOAb ( r=0.78, P<0.001), TGAb ( r=0.77, P<0.001); was negatively correlated with FBG ( r=-0.50, P<0.001). Conclusion:The prevalence of subclinical thyroid diseases among faculty and staff of the studied university is relatively high, and it is related to gender, age, thyroid antibodies, blood glucose and lipid levels.

Objective To monitor the environmental contamination with avian influenza virus (AIV) in Henan Province. Methods Environmental samples were collected every month from seven moni-toring sites in Henan from 2013 to 2017. Real-time RT-PCR method was performed to detect the nucleic acid of influenza A (Flu A), H5, H7 and H9 viruses in poultry environmental samples. Results A total of 2538 environmental samples were collected and 202 (7. 96％ ) of them were positive for Flu A nucleic acid, including 16 positive for H5 (0. 63％ ), eight positive for H7 (0. 32％ ) and 161 positive for H9 (6. 34％ ). The detection rate of Flu A increased dramatically from 2013 to 2017 except for a small fluctuation in 2015. However, H7 subtype AIV was detected only in 2015 and 2017. The highest detection rate of AIV was in February, followed by that in January. Among different environments, the highest detection rate of Flu A was in live poultry market, which was 13. 69％ , followed by that in poultry slaughtering plant (2. 58％ ) and poultry farm (0. 58％ ). The detection rates of Flu A in swab samples of poultry plucker and cutting board, stool specimens and poultry drinking water were 28. 57％ , 13. 76％ , 5. 70％ and 5. 26％ , respectively.Conclusion Contamination of H5 / H7 / H9 AIV did exist in poultry environment in Henan and was getting worse. Increasingly diversified sources and sale channels were the main causes of serious contamination of AIV. In order to effectively prevent and control human infection with AIV, live poultry in areas where human infection with AIV was confirmed should be blocked and banned to be sold to others areas.

Objective:To analyze the genetic evolution and molecular characteristics of H7N9 avian influenza virus (AIV) isolated in a live poultry market.Methods:Samples such as poultry feces, sewage, and hair removal machine and chopping board swabs were collected. Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR was used to detect influenza A virus and H7N9 AIV in the samples. The whole genome of H7N9 AIV was amplified with influenza A virus universal primers and sequenced. BLAST and MEGA X were used for sequence alignment, phylogenetic analysis and molecular characterization.Results:Seven poultry-related environment samples were collected in the live poultry market in Xuchang city in February 2023, and four were positive for H7N9 AIV. The whole genome sequences of three H7N9 AIV isolates were successfully obtained, and the isolates shared high nucleotide identity in different genes (98.37%-100.00%). BLAST analysis showed they were highly identical to H7N9 strains isolated from domestic poultry in China from 2020 to 2021. Genetic evolution analysis showed that the three isolates clustered in the same branch and were closer to the recent environmental isolates than to the recent strains isolated from human or avian. Through comparison with the sequences of the representative strains in different periods, it was found that the isolated strains in this study showed high avian pathogenicity with four amino acids KRAA inserted at the cleavage site; the hemagglutinin receptor-binding site was QSG, which was an avian binding receptor; there was a G186I mutation in hemagglutinin. Mammalian-adaptive mutation E627K was not detected in polymerase basic protein 2. Mutations (R292K and I38T) associated with drug resistance to neuraminidase inhibitor (oseltamivir) and polymerase acidic protein inhibitor (baloshavir) were not detected, suggesting that these isolates remained susceptible to these drugs. A S31N mutation was found in M2 protein, indicating they were resistant to alkamines.Conclusions:The three H7N9 AIV strains isolated in the live poultry market have high avian pathogenicity, but there are no significant increase in mutations related to the binding ability to human receptors, mammalian pathogenicity, viral transmissibility, or drug resistance as compared with previous representative strains causing human or avian infection.

Background As a group of environmental pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are neurotoxic and may cause mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by inducing inflammation. Whether neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), an inflammatory indicator, plays a mediating role in the relationship between PAHs exposure and MCI is unclear yet. Objective To investigate a potential mediating role of NLR in the association between exposure to PAHs and MCI in coke oven plant workers. Methods Eleven urine hydroxylated PAHs (OH-PAHs) of 530 coke oven plant workers were determined by high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. NLR was derived from participants' routine blood examination results using a fully automated haematology analyser. The associations between urinary OH-PAHs and MCI were analyzed by binary logistic regression, the associations between urinary OH-PAHs and NLR were analyzed by multiple linear regression, and the role of NLR in the relationship between urinary OH-PAHs and MCI was evaluated by mediating effect analysis. Results After controlling for confounding factors and other OH-PAHs, the results of binary logistic regression showed that for every e-fold (e is the base of the natural logarithm) increase in the concentration of 2-hydroxynaphthalene (2-OHNap) and 1-hydroxyphenanthrene (1-OHPhe), the OR (95%CI) values of reporting MCI positive were 1.21 (1.02, 1.43) and 1.25 (1.04, 1.51) respectively. For each unit increase of NLR, the OR (95%CI) of reporting MCI positive was 1.56 (1.12, 2.18). The results of multiple linear regression showed that each unit increase in natural log-transformed levels of 1-OHPhe was associated with 0.05 (95%CI: 0.01, 0.10) increase of NLR. The results of mediating effect analysis showed that the association between urinary 1-OHPhe and MCI was partially mediated by peripheral blood NLR, with a mediation ratio of 9.8%. Conclusion Exposure to PAHs in coke oven plant workers may increase the risk of reporting MCI positive partially through increased NLR in peripheral blood.