ObjectiveTo find out whether there is any difference in the monitoring results of mosq-ovitraps placed in different orientations in multi-storey residential areas, so as to provide a scientific basis for routine and emergency monitoring of Aedes albopictus with mosq-ovitraps in residential areas. MethodsFrom July 6th to October 26th 2023, one mosquito ovitrap was set up in each of the 4 orientations of east, south, west and north around the buildings in a multi-storey residential area in Jinhui Town, Fengxian District, Shanghai. Data was collected and recorded 72 hours after placement. The chi-square test was used to compare the mosquito ovitrap indices (MOIs) of two independent samples, and the Kruskal⁃Wallis H test was used to compare the MOIs of multiple independent samples. ResultsAfter 16 weeks of surveillance, 997 mosquito ovitraps were recovered, of which 211 were positive, with the mosquito ovitrap index (MOI) of 21.16% and the Aedes albopictus density index of 1.03 mosquitoes·ovitrap^-1. The MOIs were higher in September (24.22%) and October (23.96%), and the MOIs in the west, south and north within the two months were all above 20.00%. From July to October, the MOIs in the east, west, south and north were 20.70%, 22.20%, 25.50% and 16.20%, respectively, and the difference in MOIs among the 4 orientations was not statistically significant (χ²=6.647, P=0.084). Stratified analysis by month showed that in August, the south side of the multi-storey residential areas had the highest MOI (31.30%), the north side had the lowest MOI (1.30%), and there was a statistically significant difference in MOI in the east, west, south and north (χ²=25.986, P<0.001). In October, the MOI in the west was the highest (33.30%) and the MOI in the east was the lowest (6.30%), the difference in MOIs of the 4 orientations was statistically significant (χ²=12.007, P=0.007). The MOIs in the south side of the building in the outskirts of the residential area from the 1st week in July to the 4th week in October was lower (19.20%) than that in the south side of the inner building (31.70%), and the difference in MOI was statistically significant (χ²=5.118, P=0.024). ConclusionThe study of MOI in different orientations in a multi-storey residential area is a preliminary exploration based on field work, and the results show that there is a difference in MOIs in different orientations during the peak breeding period of mosquitoes. Further indicators such as temperature, humidity and wind speed in different orientations can be collected to explore the influencing factors of MOIs.

OBJECTIVES: To detect prfA and hly toxin genes of Listeria monocytogenes using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and colloidal gold technology. METHODS: L. monocytogenes DNA was extracted by boiling method. With prfA and hly of L. monocytogenes as the target genes, the 5' ends of upstream and downstream primers of prfA gene were labeled with 6-FAM and biotin, and the 5' ends of upstream and downstream primers of hly gene were labeled with digoxin and biotin, respectively, to establish the toxin gene detection method. Using cloning transformation, sequencing analysis, cloning of positive control products, the detection kid was developed and its specificity, sensitivity, reproducibility and stability were tested, followed by verification with sample testing. RESULTS: The concentration of L. monocytogenes DNA extracted by boiling method was 148.81±0.97 ng/μL, and the A₂₆₀/A₂₈₀ ratio ranged from 1.8 to 2.0. The PCR products showed a 100% homology with the gene sequences in GenBank database after cloning, transformation and sequencing. The colloidal gold strip yielded positive results only for L. monocytogenes samples without cross-reactions with Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli or Bacillus cereus, and its minimum detection limit was 10^-2 ng/μL, demonstrating a 10-fold greater sensitivity of the test than agarose gel electrophoresis. The test also showed good reproducibility of the results when performed by different operators with good stability of the test strips after storage for 6 to 12 months. The test results showed that this kit could accurately and quickly detect L.monocytogenes in the test samples. CONCLUSIONS The detection kit developed in this study can simultaneously detect prfA and hly toxin genes of L. monocytogenes with good specificity, sensitivity, reproducibility and stability for use in food safety inspection.
Listeria monocytogenes/isolation & purification* ; Gold Colloid ; Bacterial Toxins/genetics* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods* ; Hemolysin Proteins/genetics* ; Bacterial Proteins/genetics* ; DNA, Bacterial/genetics* ; Food Microbiology ; Heat-Shock Proteins

Objective:To establish a method of dual nueleic acid test strips for rapid detection of Bacillus cereus cytK and nhe toxin genes based on polymerase chain reaction(PCR)and colloidal gold technique,and to evaluate its specificity,sensitivity,repeatability and stability.Methods:Bacillus cereus DNA was extracted by boiling method.Specific primers were designed with Bacillus cereus cytK and nhe as the target genes.Clonal transformation was used to identify the PCR products.The optimal labeling amounts of colloidal gold-labeled streptavidin,quality control line(C line),cytK detection line(T1)and nhe detection line(T2)were determined.The nucleic acid test strips were assembled and its specificity,sensitivity,reproducibility and stability were evaluated.Results:The DNA concentration of Bacillus cereus was 248 mg·L-1,and the purities were 1.8-2.0.After cloning and plasmid sequencing,the similarities between the PCR products and the sequences of cytK and nhe registered in the GenBank database were 100％.Under the condition of pH 7.0,the optimal amount of streptavidin labeling per 200 μL of colloidal gold solution was 6.0 μL;the optimal marking amount was 2.00 g·L-1 for the quality control line(C line),0.550 g·L-1 for cytK gene detection line(T1)and 0.2 g·L-1 for nhe gene detection line(T2).In the specificity test,positive result on the test strips was seen only for Bacillus cereus,and no cross-reactivity was observed for Staphylococcus aureus,Escherichia coli,Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis,which were consistent with the electrophoresis results.Sensitivity assay showed that even when DNA concentration was reduced to 10-2 mg·L-1,three bands(C line,T1 line and T2 line)could be observed,and the detection limit of the test strip was one-tenth of agarose gel electrophoresis(10-1 mg·L-1).The nucleic acid test strips were verified by different operators in different laboratories,and the results were consistent.The stability of the test strips was verified at the 6th,9th and 12th months,and the results showed good stability.Conclusion:The dual nucleic acid test strip method established in this study can simutaneously detect the cytK and nhe toxin genes of Bacillus cereus with high sensitivity and specificity,achieving short-term visual detection.

Objective:To establish a rapid detection method for pathogenic microorganisms by combining loop-mediated isothermal amplification(LAMP)and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 12a(Cas12a)(CRISPR-Cas12a)system,and to evaluate its efficacy for detecting the thermolabile hemolysin(tlh)gene of Vibrio parahaemolyticus(Vp).Methods:Using the tlh gene of Vp as the target gene,LAMP primers and CRISPR RNA(crRNA)were designed to construct and optimize the optimal concentration ratio of each component in the LAMP-CRISPR detection system.Bacillus cereus,Staphylococcus aureus,and Escherichia coli were used as control groups,and the specificity,sensitivity,reproducibility and positive conformity rate were verified to establish a rapid LAMP-CRISPR/Cas12a method for detecting the tlh gene of Vp.Results:The method specifically detected Vp,while Bacillus cereus,Staphylococcus aureus,and Escherichia coli yielded negative results.The DNA extraction concentration of Vp was 190.67 mg·L-1 with an A(260)/(A280)ratio of 1.84.Under the reaction conditions of 37℃ with 80 cycles for 40 min using quantitative PCR(qPCR)method,when the concentrations of Cas12a protein and crRNA in the LAMP-CRISPR/Cas12a system were 50 nmol·L-1,the visual brightness and relative fluorescence intensity peaks were high.The sensitivity of LAMP CRISPR/Cas12a for detecting Vp DNA concentration could reach 10-6 mg·L-1.The reproducibility test results showed that different experimenters had consistent results in different experimental environments and times.Conclusion:The established LAMP-CRISPR/Cas12a method can rapidly detect the tlh gene of Vp with high sensitivity and specificity,and can achieve short-term visual detection in the field.

Objective To develop an automatic segmentation network for thyroid nodules by integrating wavelet transform and CNN-Transformer in order to improve the efficiency and accuracy of ultrasound image segmentation.Methods A total of 1 371 sets of ultrasound images of thyroid nodules were collected from Department of Ultrasonography of Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University between May 2023 and February 2024.After preprocessing and normalization,the data were divided into training,validation,and testing sets in a ratio of 8∶1∶1.Based on UNet,CNN and Swin-Transformer were used in parallel as the encoder,with a wavelet transform module inserted between the encoder and decoder to construct a thyroid nodule segmentation network.The performance of the segmentation model was evaluated on the collected internal dataset using accuracy,IoU,and Dice coefficient metrics.Results The finally verified 1 371 sets of ultrasonic thyroid nodules had an average Dice coefficient of 79.63%and an IoU of 67.30%.Compared with UNet,the segmentation accuracy was improved by 1.02%.The segmentation model obtained accurate location and smooth edges of thyroid nodules,and the segmentation was more consistent in thyroid nodule edge and morphology with those marked by doctors manually when compared with other segmentations.Compared with UNet,this segmentation method can learn the texture of nodules more fully and avoid the situation that nodules had been incorrectly divided into surrounding tissues.Conclusion Our developed segmentation model based on wavelet transform and CNN-Transformer demonstrates better segmentation accuracy in comparison to conventional UNet variants,such as UNet,Attention-UNet,and UNetv2,and medical segment anything models like SAM Med2D.This segmentation method enables accurate segmentation of ultrasound thyroid nodules,thereby enhancing clinical workflow efficiency through automated precise delineation.

Objective:To explore the current situation of nurses′growth mindset ability and study its related influencing factors, so as to serve as a reference for improving nurses′ growth mindset ability.Methods:This was a cross-sectional survey, and 310 nurses from 5 tertiary hospitals in Shandong Province, Shanghai City, and Guangdong Province were selected as the survey subjects from April to June 2022 using convenience sampling method. The General Information Questionnaire, the Nurses′ Growth Mindset Assessment Scale, the Psychological Adaptability Self-Assessment Scale, the Chinese Big Five Personality Inventory Brief Version and the Team Psychological Safety Atmosphere Scale were used to investigate the growth mindset ability of nurses and its influencing factors.Results:Finally, 307 valid questionnaires were collected. There were 46 males and 261 females, aged 20-50 years old. The scores of the Nurses′ Growth Mindset Assessment Scale were (108.89 ± 29.32) points, the scores of the Psychological Adaptability Self-Assessment Questionnaire were 10.0(0.0, 20.0) points, the scores of the Chinese Big Five Personality Inventory Brief Scale were (162.37±43.82) points, and the scores of the Team Psychological Safety Atmosphere Scale were (55.84 ± 15.12) points. The highest education level ( B = 0.028, P = 0.040), professional title ( B = 0.033, P = 0.032), family economic support ( B = 0.025, P = 0.048), Chinese big five personality ( B = 0.039, P = 0.037), team psychological safety atmosphere ( B = 0.600, P<0.001) and psychological adaptability ( B = 0.313, P<0.001) had a significant effect on nurses′ growth mindset ability. Conclusions:The growth mindset ability of nurses is at the upper middle level, and the educational background, professional title, family economic support, personality characteristics, team psychological safety atmosphere and psychological adaptability of nurses are the significant influencing factors. Hospitals, social and health education systems can combine influencing factors to provide a harmonious working atmosphere for nurses, focusing on the improvement of nurses′ academic qualifications and the promotion of professional titles, cultivating nurses′ psychological adaptability, improving nurses′growth mindset ability, and improving the overall quality of the nursing service team.

Objective To identify the causative variants in 5 Chinese families with tuberous sclerosis complex(TSC)to provide genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis.Methods Genetic counseling and clinical diagnosis were performed in 8 patients from five unrelated TSC families by teleconsultation.With informed consent obtained from the participants,3 to 5 mL peripheral blood samples were collected from the probands and their family mem-bers for the extraction of genomic DNA.Candidate pathogenic variants were screened by panel sequencing(PS).The candidate pathogenic variants found in TSC1 and TSC2 by PS were validated by PCR-Sanger sequencing and bioinformatics analysis.Results All the pathogenic mutations were identified in the probands and their available family members.Causative variants in TSC1 or TSC2 were detected in all patients,including three reported variants and two novel variants.The two novel variants,TSC2:c.245G＞A and TSC2:c.235delG,which were predicted to cause the nonsense variant p.(Trp82?)and the frameshift variant p.(Val79Lysfs27?)respectively was believed to introduce premature stop codons.The analysis of family co-segregation and bioinformatics were identified as very positive factors for pathogenicity.Conclusions This result provides more evidences for the genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis in these families and expand the spectrum of TSC2 pathogenic variants.

BACKGROUND:The incidence of medial collateral ligament injuries in the knee joint is easy to lead to secondary meniscus and cartilage damage,and long-term chronic damage can lead to the occurrence of osteoarthritis.At present,there are few studies on the mechanics of meniscus and articular cartilage injury caused by medial collateral ligament rupture. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effect of different degrees of medial collateral ligament injury on the biomechanics of meniscus and cartilage of knee joint. METHODS:The CT and MRI examinations of the knee joint of a healthy volunteer were performed to obtain the image data.The scanning data were imported into Mimics,Geomagic,and Solidworks software in turn.After registration and fusion,a 3D model of normal knee joint was established.On this basis,models of medial collateral ligament injury in different degrees of knee joint were simulated,which were divided into four groups,including:(1)medial collateral ligament was intact;(2)deep medial collateral ligament fracture;(3)superficial medial collateral ligament fracture;(4)complete rupture of medial collateral ligament.Finally,Ansys software was introduced to apply three modes of loads to the knee joint:(1)10 N·m valvaration torque was applied to the top of the femur.(2)A 4 N·m internal torque was applied to the top of the femur.(3)A 4 N·m external torque was applied to the top of the femur.The effects of four groups of models on knee biomechanics under different loads were analyzed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)In the extension position of the knee joint,when a 10 N·m valgus torque was applied to the knee joint,the overall stress of the posterolateral meniscus increased with different degrees of medial collateral ligament injuries,while the stress of the articular cartilage did not change significantly.The peak stress of the posterolateral meniscus increased significantly with superficial medial collateral ligament rupture.(2)In the knee extension position,when a 4 N·m internal rotation torque was applied to the knee joint,the overall stress of the medial and lateral meniscus increased after different degrees of medial collateral ligament injury.When superficial medial collateral ligament rupture occurred,the peak stress of the meniscus shifted from the anterior horn of the medial meniscus to the anterior horn of the lateral meniscus.(3)In the knee extension position,applying a 4 N·m external rotation torque to the knee joint,the peak stress of the posterolateral meniscus increased more significantly than that of the medial meniscus,and the stress of the articular cartilage changed less.(4)These results show that the risk of meniscus injury secondary to superficial medial collateral ligament rupture is much higher than that of deep medial collateral ligament rupture when the knee is in extension,and the lateral meniscus is more vulnerable to injury than the medial meniscus.Both superficial medial collateral ligament and deep medial collateral ligament play an important role in the rotational stability of the knee joint.

Objective: To examine the association between high body fat mass and elevated blood pressure in children,so as to provide scientific evidence for the prevention and treatment of childhood hypertension. Methods: Participants were recruited from the second follow up survey of the Huantai Childhood Cardiovascular Health Cohort Study conducted in 2021 in Huantai County, Zibo City, Shandong Province, China. A total of 1 266 children aged 10-15 years old were included. The study categorized fat mass (FM), fat mass percentage (FMP), fat mass index (FMI), subcutaneous fat mass (SFM), and visceral fat mass (VFM), respectively, into normal and elevated groups based on age and gender specific median values ( P 50 ) in the study population. The multivariate Logistic regression model was used to analyze the association between the status of body mass and elevated blood pressure. A restrictive cubic spline (RCS) model was used to examine the dose response relationship between the levels of body mass and elevated blood pressure. Results: The detection rates of elevated blood pressure in children with elevated FM, elevated FMP, elevated FMI, elevated SFM, and elevated VFM were all significantly higher than those in the normal group ( P <0.05). After adjusting for all potential covariates, compared to the normal group, elevated FM ( OR =4.51, 95% CI =3.28-6.28), elevated FMP ( OR =4.51, 95% CI =3.28-6.27), elevated FMI ( OR =4.40, 95% CI =3.20-6.12), elevated SFM ( OR =4.52, 95% CI =3.29- 6.30 ), and elevated VFM ( OR =4.48, 95% CI =3.28-6.18) were all positively associated with elevated blood pressure ( P <0.05). The RCS analysis demonstrated that the high levels of FM, FMP, FMI, and SFM showed linear doseresponse relationships with elevated blood pressure ( P non linear >0.05), and elevated VFM was associated with elevated blood pressure in a nonlinear dose response relationship ( P non linear <0.05). Conclusions Children with elevated body fat have a higher risk of elevated blood pressure. There was a dose response relationship between high body mass content and elevated blood pressure in children. It is essential to take appropriate measures to reduce the elevated body fat in children, in order to prevent the occurrence of high elevated blood pressure in children.

Objective:To investigate whether Lycopi Herba can serve as a viable alternative to Alismatis Rhizoma in the treatment of heart failure (HF) through network pharmacology and molecular docking techniques.Methods:TCMSP database was used to filter active components of Lycopi Herba and Alismatis Rhizoma. SwissTargetPrediction database was used to predict potential targets. HF-related targets were collected from databases such as GeneCards, OMIM, and DisGeNET. Venny 2.1.0 was used to draw a Venn diagram illustrating the intersection of targets between Lycopi Herba and Alismatis Rhizoma and HF. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was established using the String database, and key targets for the treatment of HF with Lycopi Herba and Alismatis Rhizoma were selected using Cytoscape 3.9.1 software to construct a component-intersection target network. The intersection targets were then analyzed for Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways using Metascape. Molecular docking techniques were used to evaluate the affinity between active components and key targets.Results:Lycopi Herba primarily targeted pivotal proteins such as HMGCR and CYP27B1, while Alismatis Rhizoma had a broader target spectrum, including PPARA, JAK2, among others. Shared key targets between the two included HMGCR and ESR1, which were primarily involved in cholesterol synthesis and steroid hormone biosynthesis. Enrichment pathway analysis showed similarities in steroid metabolism between the two; Alismatis Rhizoma, however, was more likely to act through protein phosphorylation regulation and modulating the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway for HF treatment. A unique target for Lycopi Herba in treating HF was CHRM4, indicating its potential for blood pressure regulation and myocardial protection.Conclusions:Both Lycopi Herba and Alismatis Rhizoma exhibit certain commonalities in the treatment of HF, but Alismatis Rhizoma has a wider range of targets and signaling pathways, implying more extensive therapeutic potential. However, considering the nephrotoxicity of Alismatis Rhizoma, Lycopi Herba could be considered as an alternative treatment for HF, especially in patients with renal insufficiency or in the early stages of HF.