Objective To investigate the changes in eosinophil counts and the activation of microglial cells in the brain tissues of mice at different stages of Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection, and to examine the role of microglia in regulating the progression of angiostrongyliasis and unravel the possible molecular mechanisms. Methods Fifty BALB/c mice were randomly divided into the control group and the 7-d, 14-d, 21-day and 25-d infection groups, of 10 mice in each group. All mice in infection groups were infected with 30 stage III A. cantonensis larvae by gavage, and animals in the control group was given an equal amount of physiological saline. Five mice were collected from each of infection groups on days 7, 14, 21 d and 25 d post-infection, and 5 mice were collected from the control group on the day of oral gavage. The general and focal functional impairment was scored using the Clark scoring method to assess the degree of mouse neurological impairment. Five mice from each of infection groups were sacrificed on days 7, 14, 21 d and 25 d post-infection, and 5 mice from the control group were sacrificed on the day of oral gavage. Mouse brain tissues were sampled, and the pathological changes of brain tissues were dynamically observed using hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining. Immunofluorescence staining with eosinophilic cationic protein (ECP) and ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba1) was used to assess the degree of eosinophil infiltration and the counts of microglial cells in mouse brain tissues in each group, and the morphological parameters of microglial cells (skeleton analysis and fractal analysis) were quantified by using Image J software to determine the morphological changes of microglial cells. In addition, the expression of M1 microglia markers Fcγ receptor III (Fcgr3), Fcγ receptor IIb (Fcgr2b) and CD86 antigen (Cd86), M2 microglia markers Arginase 1 (Arg1), macrophage mannose receptor C-type 1 (Mrc1), chitinase-like 3 (Chil3), and phagocytosis genes myeloid cell triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (Trem2), CD68 antigen (Cd68), and apolipoprotein E (Apoe) was quantified using real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) assay in the mouse cerebral cortex of mice post-infection. Results A large number of A. cantonensis larvae were seen on the mouse meninges surface post-infection, and many neuronal nuclei were crumpled and deeply stained, with a large number of bleeding points in the meninges. The median Clark scores of mouse general functional impairment were 0 (interquartile range, 0), 0 (interquartile range, 0.5), 6 (interquartile range, 1.0), 14 (interquartile range, 8.5) points and 20 (interquartile range, 9.0) points in the control group and the 7-d, 14-d, 21-d and 25-d groups, respectively (H = 22.45, P < 0.01), and the median Clark scores of mouse focal functional impairment were 0 (interquartile range, 0), 2 (interquartile range, 2.5), 7 (interquartile range, 3.0), 18 (interquartile range, 5.0) points and 25 (interquartile range, 6.5) points in the control group and the 7-d, 14-d, 21-d and 25-d groups, respectively (H = 22.72, P < 0.01). The mean scores of mice general and focal functional impairment were all higher in the infection groups than in the control group (all P values < 0.05). Immunofluorescence staining showed a significant difference in the eosinophil counts in mouse brain tissues among the five groups (F = 40.05, P < 0.000 1), and the eosinophil counts were significantly higher in mouse brain tissues in the 14-d (3.08 ± 0.78) and 21-d infection groups (5.97 ± 1.37) than in the control group (1.00 ± 0.28) (both P values < 0.05). Semi-quantitative analysis of microglia immunofluorescence showed a significant difference in the counts of microglial cells among the five groups (F = 17.66, P < 0.000 1), and higher Iba1 levels were detected in mouse brain tissues in 14-d (5.75 ± 1.28), 21-d (6.23 ± 1.89) and 25-d infection groups (3.70 ± 1.30) than in the control group (1.00 ± 0.30) (all P values < 0.05). Skeleton and fractal analyses showed that the branch length [(162.04 ± 34.10) μm vs. (395.37 ± 64.11) μm; t = 5.566, P < 0.05] and fractal dimension of microglial cells (1.30 ± 0.01 vs. 1.41 ± 0.03; t = 5.266, P < 0.05) were reduced in mouse brain tissues in the 21-d infection group relative to the control group. In addition, there were significant differences among the 5 groups in terms of M1 and M2 microglia markers Fcgr3 (F = 48.34, P < 0.05), Fcgr2b (F = 55.46, P < 0.05), Cd86 (F = 24.44, P < 0.05), Arg1 (F = 31.18, P < 0.05), Mrc1 (F = 15.42, P < 0.05) and Chil3 (F = 24.41, P < 0.05), as well as phagocytosis markers Trem2 (F = 21.19, P < 0.05), Cd68 (F = 43.95, P < 0.05) and Apoe (F = 7.12, P < 0.05) in mice brain tissues. Conclusions A. cantonensis infections may induce severe pathological injuries in mouse brain tissues that are characterized by massive eosinophil infiltration and persistent activation of microglia cells, thereby resulting in progressive deterioration of neurological functions.

Objective:To investigate the incidence of thyroid dysfunction in patients with chronic kidney disease and analyze the influencing factors.Methods:One hundred and ninety-eight patients with chronic kidney disease who were treated in Chronic Disease Management Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from Apr. 2021 to Apr. 2022 were selected, including 71 patients with abnormal thyroid function and 127 patients with normal thyroid function. The differences in TT3, FT3, TT4, FT4, and TSH between patients with abnormal thyroid function and those with normal thyroid function were analyzed. At the same time, the abnormal thyroid function of patients with different clinical characteristics and the influencing factors were analyzed. The intergroup differences were analyzed using t-test or χ2-test, and the influencing factors were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Results:In one hundred and ninety-eight patients with chronic kidney disease, thyroid function abnormality occurred in 71 patients (35.86%), including two or more abnormal thyroid function indicators in 35 patients (49.30%). The total triiodothyronine (TT3), free triiodothyronine (FT3), total thyroxine (TT4) and free thyroxine (FT4) in patients with abnormal thyroid function were (1.02 ± 0.29) nmol/mL, (3.03 ± 0.88) pmol/L, (77.93 ± 20.02) nmol/mL and (11.02 ± 1.95) pmol/L respectively, which was significantly lower in patients with normal thyroid function (1.32±0.25) nmol/mL, (4.20±0.92) pmol/L, (93.30±19.28) nmol/mL and (13.54±1.82) pmol/ ( P<0.05), while thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) was (3.14 ± 0.96) mIU/L, which was significantly higher than that in patients with normal thyroid function (1.84±0.89) mIU/L ( P<0.05). The incidence of thyroid dysfunction in female patients was 50.59% (43/85), It was significantly higher than 24.78% (28/113) of male patients (P <0.05) ; The incidence of thyroid dysfunction in patients aged 60 years was 49.55% (55/111), It was significantly higher than 18.39% (16/87) of the patients aged <60 years ( P<0.05) ; The incidence of thyroid dysfunction in patients with 1-year duration of disease was 71.43% (30/42), It was significantly higher than 25.28% (41/156) of patients with a course of disease <1 year ( P<0.05) ; The incidence of thyroid dysfunction in patients with clinical stage G 4 to 5 was 50.62% (41/81), It was significantly higher than 25.64% (30/117) of patients in G1~3 stages ( P<0.05) ; The incidence of thyroid dysfunction in patients with diabetes was 74.36% (29/39), This was significantly higher than 26.42% (42/159) in patients without diabetes mellitus ( P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that gender, age, course of disease and clinical stage were the influencing factors of thyroid dysfunction in patients with chronic kidney disease ( P<0.05) . Conclusion:A high proportion of patients with chronic kidney disease have abnormal thyroid function, which is affected by the patient's sex, age, course of disease and clinical stage,clinical attention should be paid to targeted intervention to prevent the incidence of thyroid dysfunction in chronic kidney disease population.

Objective:To determine the erythromycin resistance of Bordetella pertussis isolates and their ptxP1 and ptxP3 phenotypic composition and compare clinical manifestations of children with pertussis caused by the two types of strains. Methods:This was a cross-sectional study, the pertussis cases diagnosed using bacterial culture from January 2019 to December 2022 in Beijing Children′s Hospital and the First People′s Hospital of Wuhu were collected.Any suspected Bordetella pertussis colonies were identified by the slide agglutination test.The susceptibility of isolates to erythromycin was detected by the E-test and K-B test.The ptxP gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and sequenced to determine its genotype. t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, Chi-square test and Fisher′s exact test were use to statistical analysis. Results:A total of 192 strains of Bordetella pertussis were identified, including 188 (97.9%) erythromycin-resistant strains.Among the 188 strains, 30.3%(57/188) belonged to the ptxP1 genotype and 69.7%(131/188) belonged to the ptxP3 genotype.In children aged below 1 year old, the incidence of paroxysmal cough caused by infection with the ptxP3 strain was higher than that with the ptxP1 strain (57.1% vs.29.4%, P<0.05), and children infected with the ptxP3 strain were more likely to develop apnea or asphyxia (23.8% vs.17.6%), post-tussive vomiting (44.4% vs.32.4%), whooping cough (72.0% vs.50.0%) and pneumonia or bronchitis (85.7% vs.73.5%) compared to those infected with the ptxP1 strain, but the differences were not statistically significant(all P>0.05). In children aged 1 year old and above, the white blood cell count of children infected with the ptxP1 strain was higher than that of infections with the ptxP3 strain [13.5(9.9, 24.5)×10 9/L, 10.3 (7.0, 16.4)×10 9/L, P<0.05], and children infected with the ptxP1 strain were more likely to contract other pathogen infections than those infected with the ptxP3 strain (17.4% vs.4.4%, P>0.05). Conclusions:ptxP3 erythromycin-resistant Bordetella pertussis has become the main pathogen of pertussis.Infants with pertussis caused by the ptxP3 erythromycin-resistant strain show more significant manifestations and a higher possibility of severe symptoms than those infected with the ptxP1 erythromycin-resistant strain.

Objective:This study aims to evaluate the quality and explore the preliminary clinical applications of a domestically developed hepatitis D virus nucleic acid quantification reagent (abbreviated as"domestic HDV RNA reagent").Methods:The sensitivity and accuracy of the reagent were evaluated in accordance with the WHO HDV RNA international standard, employing the Bio-Rad CFX Opus 96 real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR analysis system. Serial dilutions of pseudo-viruses or cell culture-derived virus were used to determine the linear range of the domestic HDV RNA reagent. Specificity was assessed using positive samples of HAV, HBV, HCV infection, and HEV national reference materials. Precision was evaluated with samples at both high and low concentrations. In a comparative analysis, 30 HDV IgG positive samples were tested using both the domestic HDV RNA reagent and the RoboGene HDV RNA kit based on the ABI 7500 FAST DX system. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was used to examine the correlation between the two reagents.Results:The domestic HDV RNA reagent demonstrated a high sensitivity of up to 6 IU/ml, consistent with that of the comparator reagent. The calibration curve for WHO HDV RNA standards had a slope of -3.286, with an amplification efficiency of 101.6%. The linear detection range spanned from 10 to 10 8 IU/ml for eight HDV genotypes. The domestic HDV RNA reagent exhibited exceptional specificity, without cross-reactivity observed with HAV, HBV, HCV, or HEV. Accuracy assessments at five concentration levels met the required standards, with intra-assay precision coefficient of variation ( CV) ranging from 1.20% to 4.20%, and inter-assay precision CV from 1.20% to 7.90%. The detection results for HDV IgG positive samples were highly correlated with the comparator reagent ( r=0.984, P<0.001), achieving a diagnostic accuracy of 100% compared to sequencing results. Conclusion:In this study, the domestic HDV RNA reagent possesses excellent specificity, accuracy, precision, and a broad linear range, attaining a sensitivity level on par with international reagents of the same type.

Objective:To explore the influencing factors of abnormal blood pressure and electrocardiogram (ECG) in occupational motor vehicle drivers.Methods:In January 2024, a cluster sampling method was used to study 606 occupational motor vehicle drivers from a transportation service enterprise in Beijing who completed occupational health examination in 2023 in Peking University Third Hospital as observation group and 596 non-occupational motor vehicle drivers as control group. The data of personal history, occupational history, blood pressure and ECG were collected, and the effects of occupational motor vehicle driving on hypertension and ECG were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression.Results:The age of workers in the observation group was (34.1±7.8) years old, and the length of service was (7.0±7.1) years. The age of the control group was (33.8±7.6) years old, and the working age was (7.7±6.5) years. There was no significant difference in age and length of service between the two groups ( t=0.62, -1.90, P=0.538, 0.057). Systolic blood pressure (133.0±14.7) mmHg, diastolic blood pressure (83.7±11.6) mmHg, hypertension detection rate of 33.0% (200/606), ECG abnormality detection rate of 39.9% (242/606). They were significantly higher than those in the control group [ (127.8±14.4) mmHg, (77.5±11.0) mmHg, 24.7% (147/596), 31.0% (185/596) ], and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that occupational motor vehicle driving were risk factors for hypertension and abnormal ECG ( OR= 1.210, 1.578; 95% CI: 1.145-1.231, 1.237-2.012; P<0.001) . Conclusion:Occupational motor vehicle driving may increase the risk of hypertension and abnormal ECG in workers.

Objective:To explore the influencing factors of abnormal blood pressure and electrocardiogram (ECG) in occupational motor vehicle drivers.Methods:In January 2024, a cluster sampling method was used to study 606 occupational motor vehicle drivers from a transportation service enterprise in Beijing who completed occupational health examination in 2023 in Peking University Third Hospital as observation group and 596 non-occupational motor vehicle drivers as control group. The data of personal history, occupational history, blood pressure and ECG were collected, and the effects of occupational motor vehicle driving on hypertension and ECG were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression.Results:The age of workers in the observation group was (34.1±7.8) years old, and the length of service was (7.0±7.1) years. The age of the control group was (33.8±7.6) years old, and the working age was (7.7±6.5) years. There was no significant difference in age and length of service between the two groups ( t=0.62, -1.90, P=0.538, 0.057). Systolic blood pressure (133.0±14.7) mmHg, diastolic blood pressure (83.7±11.6) mmHg, hypertension detection rate of 33.0% (200/606), ECG abnormality detection rate of 39.9% (242/606). They were significantly higher than those in the control group [ (127.8±14.4) mmHg, (77.5±11.0) mmHg, 24.7% (147/596), 31.0% (185/596) ], and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that occupational motor vehicle driving were risk factors for hypertension and abnormal ECG ( OR= 1.210, 1.578; 95% CI: 1.145-1.231, 1.237-2.012; P<0.001) . Conclusion:Occupational motor vehicle driving may increase the risk of hypertension and abnormal ECG in workers.

Pancreatic cancer is a highly malignant tumor of the digestive system with poor prognosis.Due to the lack of effective early screening and diagnosis methods,the majority of patients with pancreatic cancer present with locally advanced or metastatic disease at diagnosis.For advanced pancreatic cancer,the major treatment strategy is still chemotherapy-based comprehensive treatment.The development of immunotherapy and targeted therapy gives us cause for optimism in our pursuit of better treatment.This article reviewed the advances in immunotherapy and targeted therapy of advanced pancreatic cancer.

Humans ; Air Pollutants ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; Polysomnography ; Sleep ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, is a destructive pest native to America and has recently become an invasive insect pest in China. Because of its rapid spread and great risks in China, understanding of FAW genetic background and pesticide resistance is urgent and essential to develop effective management strategies. Here, we assembled a chromosome-level genome of a male FAW (SFynMstLFR) and compared re-sequencing results of the populations from America, Africa, and China. Strain identification of 163 individuals collected from America, Africa and China showed that both C and R strains were found in the American populations, while only C strain was found in the Chinese and African populations. Moreover, population genomics analysis showed that populations from Africa and China have close relationship with significantly genetic differentiation from American populations. Taken together, FAWs invaded into China were most likely originated from Africa. Comparative genomics analysis displayed that the cytochrome p450 gene family is extremely expanded to 425 members in FAW, of which 283 genes are specific to FAW. Treatments of Chinese populations with twenty-three pesticides showed the variant patterns of transcriptome profiles, and several detoxification genes such as AOX, UGT and GST specially responded to the pesticides. These findings will be useful in developing effective strategies for management of FAW in China and other invaded areas.
Animals ; China ; Genomics ; Humans ; Male ; Pesticides ; Spodoptera/genetics* ; Transcriptome

Objective:To investigate the value of tumor hemodynamics and morphological features from conventional dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) scan before surgery in predicting postoperative recurrence time in breast cancer patients.Methods:A retrospective analysis of 58 patients with breast cancer who had recurred after operation from November 2012 to December 2014 in Liaoning Cancer Hospital was performed. According to the recurrence time, the patients were divided into early recurrence group (≤2 years after surgery, 33 cases) and late recurrence group (>2 years after surgery, 25 cases). All patients underwent routine DCE-MRI scans before surgery, and hemodynamic features of the three-dimensional volume of the tumor and the morphological and textural features of the tumor in each phase were extracted by computer. The counts and measurement data of patients in early recurrence group and late recurrence group were compared by Fisher′s exact probability method and Mann-Whitney U test, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were drawn. The multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate the combined efficacy in predicting early recurrence and late recurrence. Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the survival prognosis, and Log-Rank test was used to compare the differences in survival curves between groups. Results:There was no significant difference in background parenchymal enhancement, lesion margin, lesion internal enhancement characteristics, lesion morphology, time-signal intensity curve type and the degree of whole-breast vascularity increase between early recurrence and late recurrence groups ( P>0.05).There were significant differences in the maximum concentration of contrast (Max Conc), the area under the time signal curve (AUC) and the maximum slope value of the time signal curve (Max Slope) ( P<0.05). Comparative analysis of the radiomics parameters of 8 phases DCE-MRI found that the sphericity of morphological characteristic parameters in the phase 3 was statistically different between the early recurrence and late recurrence groups ( P=0.03). Area under the ROC curve of AUC, Max Conc, Max Slope and parameter sphericity of phase 3 morphological characteristics for predicting early and late recurrence were 0.664, 0.659, 0.684 and 0.670, respectively. The area under the ROC combined with the above four parameters for prediction was 0.765, with a specificity of 63.6% and a sensitivity of 84.0%; the predictive efficacy was higher than that of univariate. Fifty-eight patients were followed up for 17 to 64 months with a median follow-up of 47 months. The disease-free survival and overall survival in the early recurrence group were significantly lower than those in the late recurrence group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). Conclusion:It is of certain value to predict the postoperative recurrence time of breast cancer based on the tumor hemodynamic characteristics combined with morphological characteristics from preoperative non-invasive conventional DCE-MRI.