Objective To evaluate the impacts of air temperature on years of life lost(YLL) among the residents in Guangzhou and Zhuhai,Guangdong province. Methods Daily mortality and meteorology data in Guangzhou and Zhuhai were collected,and distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM)was used to evaluate the cumulative and delayed effects of daily air temperature on YLL of total non-accident mortality. The accumulative effect of air temperature on mortality under the extreme high temperature(0-1 days)and extreme low temperature(0-13 days)situation in Guangzhou and Zhuhai were analyzed respectively. Results The average YLL was 1 928.0 in Guangzhou and 202.5 in Zhuhai. The exposure-response functions seemed to be non-linear. The hot effect seemed to be acute and reached the peak at the same day,while the cold effect reached the peak at 5th days and lasted for about two weeks. Low temperature had stronger gross effect than high temperature had. The cold effect among males was greater than that among females in Guangzhou. The hot/cold effect on YLL was greater in people aged ≥65 years than in people aged <65 years and in people suffering from respiratory disease than in people suffering from cardiovascular disease in both Guangzhou and Zhuhai. Conclusion The effects of high and low temperatures on YLL were obvious,and the impact of low temperature was greater. The elderly and people suffering from respiratory disease or cardiovascular disease are the vulnerable populations.

The genomic diversity of Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) was investigated in an experimentally infected chicken. ALV-J variants in tissues from four different organs of the same bird were re-isolated in DF-1 cells, and their gp85 gene was amplified and cloned. Ten clones from each organ were sequenced and compared with the original inoculum strain, NX0101. The minimum homology of each organ ranged from 96.7 to 97.6%, and the lowest homology between organs was only 94.9%, which was much lower than the 99.1% homology of inoculum NX0101, indicating high diversity of ALV-J, even within the same bird. The gp85 mutations from the left kidney, which contained tumors, and the right kidney, which was tumor-free, had higher non-synonymous to synonymous mutation ratios than those in the tumor-bearing liver and lungs. Additionally, the mutational sites of gp85 gene in the kidney were similar, and they differed from those in the liver and lung, implying that organ- or tissue-specific selective pressure had a greater influence on the evolution of ALV-J diversity. These results suggest that more ALV-J clones from different organs and tissues should be sequenced and compared to better understand viral evolution and molecular epidemiology in the field.
Animals ; Avian Leukosis Virus* ; Avian Leukosis* ; Birds ; Chickens* ; Clone Cells ; Kidney ; Liver ; Lung ; Molecular Epidemiology ; Silent Mutation

Objective To understand the epidemiological characteristics, genomic variations and macrolide resistance of Bordetella pertussis ( B. pertussis) strains circulating in Shenzhen with clinical data analysis, genotype profiling, phylogenetic analysis and antimicrobial susceptibility test. Methods Clinical data of patients with pertussis in Shenzhen Children's Hospital were collected from the electronic medical re-cord system. Genome sequences of 31 B. pertussis isolates were analyzed with next-generation sequencing and de novo assembled. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was performed to identify their sequences types. Sequence alignment by BLASTn was used to identify virulence genotypes and mutations in 23S rRNA gene. A phylogenetic tree was constructed to analyze the relationships among them. E-test was used to identify ma-crolide resistance. Results All of the 31 B. pertussis strains were identified as sequence type-2 (ST-2) by MLST with diverse virulence genotypes. Two were prn-deficient strains. Based on the phylogenetic tree, all of the isolates were distant from vaccine strains. Nineteen isolates were resistant to erythromycin with A2047G mutation in 23S rRNA. Conclusions The virulence genotypes of B. pertussis strains in Shenzhen were diverse with increasing non-vaccine genotypes. Macrolide-resistant strains were prevalent. This study might provide reference for improving the prevention, management and vaccination strategy of pertussis.

Objective:To investigate the effect of the transcriptional coactivator Mediator 1 (Med1) on mouse hair regeneration, and to explore potential mechanisms.Methods:Med1 flox/flox C57BL/6J mice were mated with K14-Cre mice, and the mice with epidermis-specific knockout of Med1 gene, namely K14-Cre-expressing Med1 flox/flox mice (knockout group) , were obtained by using the Cre-Loxp system, while Med1 flox/flox mice without K14-Cre expression served as control group. Mice in the two groups (3 mice in each group) were raised together for 8 weeks followed by dorsal hair removal. Hair regeneration was observed for 12 consecutive days after hair removal. After 12 days, all mice in the two groups were sacrificed, their depilated and non-depilated dorsal skin tissues were resected, and total RNA was extracted from the tissues. Real-time quantitative PCR was performed to determine the mRNA expression of hair keratin genes, vitamin D receptor/β-catenin pathway-related genes, and genes associated with maintenance of hair follicle stem cell proliferation and quiescence. Paraffin-embedded sections of depilated and non-depilated mouse skin tissues were prepared, and immunofluorescence staining was conducted to determine the number of stem cells in the hair follicle bulge. Two-independent-sample t test was used for comparisons between two groups. Results:From days 0 to 12 after depilation, hair regeneration was delayed in the depilated skin area in the knockout group compared with the control group. Real-time quantitative PCR showed significantly decreased mRNA relative expression levels of hair keratin genes Ha1 and Krt2-16, vitamin D receptor/β-catenin pathway-related genes S100a3, Dlx3 and Tubb3, and genes associated with maintenance of hair follicle stem cell proliferation and quiescence including Lhx2, Sox9 and Nfatc1 in the depilated skin tissues in the knockout group (22.09 ± 12.32, 2.07 ± 0.20, 0.02 ± 0.01, 12.36 ± 2.12, 1.75 ± 0.46, 0.39 ± 0.02, 4.42 ± 0.76, 0.44 ± 0.07, respectively) compared with the control group (70.53 ± 9.46, 7.76 ± 0.49, 0.05 ± 0.01, 26.16 ± 2.96, 2.60 ± 0.14, 0.71 ± 0.09, 11.93 ± 0.42, 0.75 ± 0.04, respectively; t = 5.40, 18.64, 3.89, 6.57, 3.04, 6.10, 15.03, 6.18, respectively, all P < 0.05) . Immunofluorescence staining showed that the number of CD34 +K15 + hair follicle stem cells in the hair follicle bulge in both depilated and non-depilated skin tissues was significantly lower in the knockout group than in the control group. Conclusion:Med1 gene knockout may down-regulate the expression of downstream genes of the vitamin D receptor/β-catenin pathway and genes associated with maintenance of hair follicle stem cell proliferation and quiescence (Sox9, Nfatc1 and Lhx2) , and reduce the number of hair follicle stem cells, leading to hair follicle differentiation disorder and hair regeneration delay.

Objective:Resorption can occur after lumbar disc herniation, and Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is considered to be a key factor mediating reabsorption. Studies have found that under the action of inflammatory factors like TNF-α, IL-6, etc,the expression of TSLP in intervertebral disc tissue was increased, and then mononuclear macrophage chemokine-1 (MCP-1) was induced to induce infiltration of macrophage to promote reabsorption. To determine the mechanism, we design the experiment to explore the mechanism of IL-6-mediated JAK/STAT pathway and TGF-β/Smad pathway to promote the reabsorption of intervertebral disc by regulating the expression of TSLP.Methods:Rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and rat nucleus pulposus cells (NPC) were cultured in vitro, treating the cells withrat IL-6 recombinant protein, STAT3inhibitor and Smad2/3 inhibitorrespectively, and use real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) technology to detect the expression of JAK1, STAT3, Smad2, TSLP mRNA under different conditions; Western blot to detect the expression of TSLP, Smad2 and phosphate STAT3 protein; using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Elisa) to detect the expression of TGF-β in two rat cells under the treatment of IL-6.Results:After stimulation ofIL-6 (10 ng/ml or 100 ng/ml) the expression of JAK1in MSC (10 ng/ml: 5.13±1.21; 100 ng/ml: 5.23±0.35; control group: 0.97±0.03), STAT3 (10 ng/ml: 6.50±0.38; 100 ng/ml: 6.74±0.61; control group: 0.87±0.19) was significantly increased, and TSLP also showed high expression in MSC (10 ng/ml: 4.26±0.38; 100 ng/ml: 5.05±0.46; control group: 1.04±0.04).The expression of STAT3 (10 ng/ml: 2.91±0.08; control group: 1.12±0.11), TSLP (10 ng/ml: 7.32±0.37; control group: 1.03±0.03) in NPC also increased. After stimulation of IL-6, the expression of Smad2 increasing in MSC was observed (10 ng/ml: 15.92±0.62; 100 ng/ml: 20.28±0.58; control group: 0.96±0.08), and increased expression of Smad2 in NPC (10 ng/ml: 5.01±0.17; control group: 0.96±0.03). The expression of TSLP in MSC decreased after adding STAT3 inhibitor (BP group, BP group: 0.17±0.01; control group: 0.90±0.09), the expression of TSLP also decreased in NPC (BP group: 0.42±0.11; control group: 0.90±0.11). After adding Smad2/3 inhibitor (SB group), the expression of TSLP in MSC decreased (SB group: 0.33±0.01; control group: 1.02±0.02), and the expression of TSLP in NPC also decreased (SB group: 0.40±0.04; control group: 0.99±0.01).Conclusion:IL-6 up-regulates TSLP expression via the JAK1/STAT3 signaling pathway and promotes prominent intervertebral disc reabsorption. At the same time, IL-6 can activate the TGF-β/Smad2/3 pathway and up-regulate the expression of TSLP, which play a synergistic role in the reabsorption process.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the impacts of air temperature on years of life lost (YLL) among the residents in Guangzhou and Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

METHODSDaily mortality and meteorology data in Guangzhou and Zhuhai were collected, and distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) was used to evaluate the cumulative and delayed effects of daily air temperature on YLL of total non-accident mortality. The accumulative effect of air temperature on mortality under the extreme high temperature (0-1 days) and extreme low temperature (0-13 days) situation in Guangzhou and Zhuhai were analyzed respectively.

RESULTSThe average YLL was 1 928.0 in Guangzhou and 202.5 in Zhuhai. The exposure-response functions seemed to be non-linear. The hot effect seemed to be acute and reached the peak at the same day, while the cold effect reached the peak at 5(th) days and lasted for about two weeks. Low temperature had stronger gross effect than high temperature had. The cold effect among males was greater than that among females in Guangzhou. The hot/cold effect on YLL was greater in people aged ≥ 65 years than in people aged < 65 years and in people suffering from respiratory disease than in people suffering from cardiovascular disease in both Guangzhou and Zhuhai.

CONCLUSIONThe effects of high and low temperatures on YLL were obvious, and the impact of low temperature was greater. The elderly and people suffering from respiratory disease or cardiovascular disease are the vulnerable populations.

Aged ; Air ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; epidemiology ; China ; epidemiology ; Extreme Cold ; adverse effects ; Extreme Heat ; adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mortality, Premature ; Nonlinear Dynamics ; Respiratory Tract Diseases ; epidemiology ; Time Factors