Objective To analyze the pathogen species and clinical characteristics in patients with acute up-per respiratory tract infection.Methods A total of 275 patients with acute upper respiratory tract infection admitted to Jinling Hospital,Affiliated Hospital of Medical School,Nanjing University from December 1,2023 to May 15,2024 were selected as research objects.Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reac-tion was used to detect pathogen species in throat swab samples,and clinical data and peripheral blood test in-dexes were collected in the medical record system.Results The positive detection rate of influenza A virus was 9.45%,influenza B virus 17.82%,respiratory syncytial virus 9.45%,adenovirus 9.21%,severe acute re-spiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 18.37%,mycoplasma pneumoniae 10.04%,and chlamydia pneumoniae 1.67%.Compared with other age groups,the positive detection rates of influenza A virus,influenza B virus,respiratory syncytial virus,adenovirus,mycoplasma pneumoniae and chlamydia pneumoniae in patients<18 years old were higher,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).The proportion of monocytes in patients infected with influenza B virus was higher than that in patients infected with other pathogens,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).Conclusion Identification the pathogen types of acute upper respiratory tract infection patients is helpful for developing appropriate treatment plans and providing a basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment for the patients.

Objective To investigate the expression of allograft inflammatory factor-1(AIF-1)in the testicular model of diabetes mellitus(DM)rats as well as its significance.Methods The rat model of DM testis(DMT)was established,which were randomly divided into the DM testis 4-week group(DMT4W),DM testis s 8-week group(DMT8W)and the DM testis 12-week group(DMT12W).The normal control group(NC group)was randomly divided into three subgroups:NC 4-week(NC4W),NC 8-week(NC8W)and NC 12-week(NC12W).The morphologic changes of testis in the different groups was detected by histopathology.The expression of AIF-1 protein was detected by immunohistochemistry.The expression of AIF-1 and NF-κB p65 protein was observed by immunofluorescence.Results The histopathological results suggested that the numbers of spermatogenic cells,sertoli cells,interstitial cells and sperms in the DMT group were significantly decreased,as compared with the NC group.The immunohistochemistry results showed that the expression of AIF-1 protein was significantly increased in the DMT group,as compared with the NC group(P<0.05).The intensity of AIF-1 and NF-κB p65 in the DMT group was significantly increased by immunofluorescence,as compared with the NC group.Conclusion The over expression of AIF-1 protein in DMT tissue suggests that it may play an important role in the pathological process of DMT and may become a new therapeutic target and diagnostic marker in the future.

Influenza viruses are common pathogens causing respiratory infections in humans. Among the four seasonal influenza viruses, influenza A virus H3N2 has become the leading cause of seasonal influenza illness and death, posing a great threat to public health and the economy. Since it first emerged and caused a pandemic in 1968, H3N2 has been circulating repeatedly in human beings and continually evades host immune attack by antigenic drift, resulting in a decrease in vaccine efficacy. In this paper, the antigenic evolution of influenza A virus H3N2, the impact of antigenic evolution on the selection of vaccine strains and some models for predicting the evolution of influenza viruses were analyzed and reviewed, which paved the road for understanding the antigenic evolution of influenza virus and vaccine development.

Influenza viruses are responsible for a large number of infections and deaths annually, posing a serious threat to public health. Vaccination is the most effective measure to prevent influenza virus infection. However, current seasonal influenza vaccines only protect against closely matched circulating strains. Even with extensive surveillance and annual reformulation, yearly updated vaccines are still a step behind the fast-evolving viruses, often resulting in poor matches or less effective vaccines. Due to the relatively complex evolution of influenza A viruses, it is a new idea and a new means to prevent influenza epidemics by using a series of innovative technologies to develop universal influenza vaccines that can provide extensive and long-lasting protection against influenza viruses. This review summarized the latest progress in the development of universal vaccines targeting HA in the past three years, including design methods for universal vaccines targeting HA, HA stem and other conserved epitopes, compared the advantages and disadvantages of different technologies, explored the impact of immunization programs and strategies, and discussed the potential challenges to be overcome, hoping to provide reference for the successful development of universal vaccines.

OBJECTIVES: Our previous study has verified that high level of SET and MYND domain-containing protein 2 (SMYD2) plays an important role in acquiring aggressive ability for liver cancer cells in hepatocellular carcinoma. MiR-200b as a tumor suppressor gene involves in a variety of cancers. This study aims to investigate the correlation between miR-200b and SMYD2 in hepatocellular carcinoma and the underlying mechanism. METHODS: Firstly, the levels of SMYD2 and miR-200b in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and matched adjacent non-tumor liver tissues were tested with real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting. Secondly, we evaluated the interaction between miR-200b and SMYD2 using dual-luciferase reporter assay. Thirdly, we elucidated the effect of miR-200b on SMYD2 and its downstream targets p53/CyclinE1. Finally, we silenced SMYD2 in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines to investigate its effect on tumor proliferation and cell cycle progression, and further confirmed the correlation among SMYD2 and p53/CyclinE1. RESULTS: Compared with the matched adjacent non-tumor liver tissues, miR-200b was obviously decreased, and SMYD2 was significantly increased in hepatocellular carcinoma (both P<0.05). Spearman's rank correlation revealed that miR-200b expression was negatively correlated with SMYD2 (P<0.01). Computer algorithm and dual-luciferase reporter assay revealed that miR-200b directly targeted and suppressed SMYD2 in HEK 293T cells. The down-regulated miR-200b expression promoted hepatoma cell proliferation (P<0.05) and increased SMYD2 expression(P<0.01), while the up-regulated expression of miR-200b had an opposite effect. The knockdown of SMYD2 suppressed the proliferation of MHCC-97L cells (P<0.01), down-regulated CyclinE1, and up-regulated p53 expression (both P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS MiR-200b is involved in hepatocellular carcinoma progression via targeting SMYD2 and regulating SMYD2/p53/CyclinE1 signaling pathway and may be used as a potential target for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment.
Humans ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/pathology* ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/metabolism* ; MicroRNAs/metabolism* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Signal Transduction ; Liver Neoplasms/pathology* ; Cell Proliferation/genetics* ; Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase/metabolism*

The importance of structural variants(SVs)for human phenotypes and diseases is now recognized.Although a variety of SV detection platforms and strategies that vary in sensitivity and specificity have been developed,few benchmarking procedures are available to confidently assess their performances in biological and clinical research.To facilitate the validation and application of these SV detection approaches,we established an Asian reference material by characterizing the genome of an Epstein-Barr virus(EBV)-immortalized B lymphocyte line along with identified benchmark regions and high-confidence SV calls.We established a high-confidence SV callset with 8938 SVs by integrating four alignment-based SV callers,including 109x Pacific Biosciences(PacBio)continuous long reads(CLRs),22 x PacBio circular consensus sequencing(CCS)reads,104x Oxford Nanopore Technologies(ONT)long reads,and 114×Bionano optical mapping plat-form,and one de novo assembly-based SV caller using CCS reads.A total of 544 randomly selected SVs were validated by PCR amplification and Sanger sequencing,demonstrating the robustness of our SV calls.Combining trio-binning-based haplotype assemblies,we established an SV benchmark for identifying false negatives and false positives by constructing the continuous high-confidence regions(CHCRs),which covered 1.46 gigabase pairs(Gb)and 6882 SVs supported by at least one diploid haplotype assembly.Establishing high-confidence SV calls for a benchmark sample that has been characterized by multiple technologies provides a valuable resource for investigating SVs in human biology,disease,and clinical research.

Objective:To analyze the neutralization properties of different genotypes and mutants of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV).Methods:Pseudoviruses of SFTSV of different genotypes and mutants were constructed using VSVΔG-Fluc*G backbone. Neutralization assays were established based on the pseudoviruses. DNA vaccines for different SFTSV genotypes were prepared. Serum samples were collected from guinea pigs immunized with the DNA vaccines. Neutralizing antibodies in serum samples from immunized guinea pigs and naturally infected patients were detected using neutralization assays and analyzed.Results:The pseudoviruses of five genotypes and 43 mutants were successfully constructed and the neutralization assays based the pseudoviruses were successfully established after optimizing the reaction parameters. The dilution multiple corresponding to the inhibition rate of neutralizing antibody to half of the pseudovirus infection was taken as the titer of neutralizing antibody by the reduction in pseudovirus reporter gene. The neutralization antibody titers in naturally infected patients and immunized guinea pigs were respectively in the ranges of 1∶100-1∶43 000 and 1∶100-1∶2 500 when detected with the reference HB29 pseudovirus. The neutralization antibody titers ranged from 1∶100-1∶2 500 after immunization with different genotypes of DNA vaccines. No significant statistical difference in neutralization antibody titer was observed among different genotypes or mutant strains.Conclusions:The neutralization properties of different genotypes and mutants showed no significant change, which would be very useful for developing vaccines.

Objective To evaluate clinical efficacy on treatment of axillary hyperhidrosis by botulinum toxin type A injection and to introduce a corresponding method evolved from Minor's starch iodine test with MATLAB analysis.Methods Ten patients were involved in the study and evaluated preoperatively by both Hyperhidrosis Disease Severity Scale (HDSS) and Minor's starch iodine test with MATLAB analysis.All cases were treated with botulinum toxin type A injection dosed by 50 U on one side focally and evaluated postoperatively by both above mentioned methods with interval of 1 month and by HDSS only of 6 months.Results The clinical efficiency by the therapy evaluated by HDSS accounted for 100％ and 60％ postoperatively with intervals of 1 month and 6 months respectively.By the Minor's starch iodine test with MATLAB analysis,all patients showed no statistical difference between two matched sides preoperatively (P ＞ 0.05),while postoperatively statistical difference was observed between the treated side and the control (P＜0.05) and also between the treated group and zero control (P＜0.05).Conclusions The clinical efficacy of botulinum toxin type A injection in treatment of axillary hyperhidrosis is highlighted in short term.The evolved Minor's starch iodine test combined with MATLAB analysis serves as an alternative which facilitates operability and objectivity evaluating the therapy outcomes on hyperhidrosis.

Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of the simulation with a 3D stereophotogrammetric imaging system(Vectra) for the prosthetic breast augmentation. Methods: From July 2014 to December 2015, 32 patients received Vectra scanning prior to breast augmentation. The simulations of post-operation images were created by the software.The distance of SN-N line, N-N line and the volume of the simulated breast was measured by the software. The patients came back for a follow-up 1-6 months post-operation. At that time, the same type of data was collected again, and the difference of simulated and real post-operation breast was calculated. 18 professional doctors scored the accuracy of the simulation using a 1-10 scale. We defined 6-10 as"of great accuracy". The scores were analyzed using the independent-sample t test. Results: The simulated distance of SN-N line(L/R), N-N line(L/R) and the volume(L/R) was (19.3±1.4) cm/(19.3±1.2) cm、(19.0±1.5) cm and (369.0±64.5) ml/(370.0±82.7) ml. The real distance of SN-N line(L/R), N-N line(L/R) and the volume(L/R) was (19.0±1.3) cm /(19.0±1.2) cm、(18.4±1.3) cm and (365.6±81.0) ml/(360.2±84.2) ml. Those data of simulating and real post-operation breast was statistically insignificant (P>0.05). The score of the simulation accuracy by 18 professional doctors was 7.9±1.4, which means the doctors agreed the accuracy of Vectra for the breast augment simulation was great. Conclusions The Vectra can simulate the figure of breast augmentation with good accuracy.