Babesiosis is a zoonotic parasitic disease caused by tick-borne Babesia species. Currently, more than 100 species of Babesia have been characterized, including at least 4 species that may infect humans. Babesiosis is prevalent across the world, and humans are commonly susceptible to babesiosis. The incidence of babesiosis appears an obvious seasonal distribution, and peaks in summer and autumn. Recently, the number of reported babesiosis cases has increased year by year with the improvement of diagnostic and monitoring capabilities, and the range of animal hosts has continued to expand. However, effective prevention and control of babesiosis remain challenging because of the lack of highly effective specific drugs and available vaccines. This review summarizes the pathogenic characteristics, epidemiological characteristics, epidemic process of babesiosis, and influencing factors of its epidemic, with an emphasis on natural and social factors, so as to provide the scientific evidence for risk assessment of babesiosis and formulation of babesiosis control strategy.

Lyme disease is a newly emerging zoonotic infectious disease that poses a major threat to both human and animal health.Among the many factors influencing the distribution and prevalence of Lyme disease,climate change can alter pathogens and influence the richness and abundance of host animals and vectors.These changes create appropriate conditions for disease outbreaks and epidem-ics,thereby increasing risks to human health.Herein,we review research on the effects of climate change on Lyme disease ecosys-tems,to provide a reference for predicting the occurrence and prevalence of Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is a newly emerging zoonotic infectious disease that poses a major threat to both human and animal health.Among the many factors influencing the distribution and prevalence of Lyme disease,climate change can alter pathogens and influence the richness and abundance of host animals and vectors.These changes create appropriate conditions for disease outbreaks and epidem-ics,thereby increasing risks to human health.Herein,we review research on the effects of climate change on Lyme disease ecosys-tems,to provide a reference for predicting the occurrence and prevalence of Lyme disease.

Q fever is a zoonotic disease caused by Coxiella burnetii infection,which is widespread in nature.Animal models are important to study the etiology and pathogenesis of infectious diseases and evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines.In recent years,various animal models,such as invertebrates,rodents,and non-human primates,have been used to study Q fever.This article summarizes the research status of Q fever animal models,discusses the advantages and disadvantages of these models,and summarizes the requirements and standards of future modeling studies.

Objective:To investigate the seroepidemiological status of Toxoplasma gondii among humans, dogs and cats and its influencing factors in three counties of Yunnan Province, and to assess the risk of dogs and cats transmitting Toxoplasma gondii to humans and causing disease and epidemics. Methods:Three pestis foci of demestic rodent in Mile City, Mang City and Lianghe County in Yunnan Province were selected as the investigation areas, and blood samples of humans, dogs and cats from 16 natural villages were collected. Serum IgG antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii were detected by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the influencing factors were analyzed by logistic regression. Results:A total of 368 human serum samples, 307 dog serum samples, and 12 cat serum samples were tested. The positive rates of serum IgG antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii in humans, dogs and cats were 54.62% (201/368), 90.88% (279/307), and 91.67% (11/12), respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of Toxoplasma gondii infection (serum IgG antibodies positive) in humans of Mang City and Lianghe County were 8.20 times ( AOR = 8.20, 95% CI: 4.38 - 15.36) and 2.22 times ( AOR = 2.22, 95% CI: 1.24 - 3.97) higher than those in Mile City, respectively, and the risk of Toxoplasma gondii infection (serum IgG antibodies positive) in humans in the age group of 30 - < 40 years old decreased by 57% compared to the age group of 30 years old ( AOR = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.19 - 0.98, P < 0.10). The risk of Toxoplasma gondii infection (serum IgG antibodies positive) in dogs of Lianghe County was 89% lower than that in Mile City ( AOR = 0.11, 95% CI: 0.02 - 0.47). The risk of Toxoplasma gondii infection(serum IgG antibodies positive) in dogs aged 2 years old and older was 2.05 times higher than that in dogs aged younger than 2 years old ( AOR = 2.05, 95% CI: 0.91 - 4.64, P < 0.10). Conclusions:The positive rates of serum IgG antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii in humans, dogs and cats in the three counties where the three pestis foci of demestic rodent are located in Yunnan Province is relatively high. The risk of Toxoplasma gondii infection (serum IgG antibodies positive) in humans, dogs is related to the region and age. The risk of dogs and cats transmitting Toxoplasma gondii to humans and other animals is relatively high. It is necessary to strengthen monitoring in key regions, carry out health education, and take corresponding health measures.

Abstract: Objective　To investigate the carrier status of Borrelia burgdorferi in rodents in three counties of Yunnan and to identify influencing factors, to provide a scientific basis for effective control and prevention of human Lyme disease. Methods From July to August 2019, rodents were collected by night trapping method from 16 natural villages across Mile City, Mangshi City, and Lianghe County in Yunnan. Spleen tissue samples were collected, and DNA was extracted. The target fragment of Borrelia burgdorferi 5S-23S rRNA gene was amplified by nested PCR, and positive products were sequenced. The sequences were homologous compared and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. The Chi-square test or Fisher's exact probability method was applied in R software to analyze the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi in rodents in different regions, habitats, species, genders, ages, and flea statuses. Results A total of 491 spleen samples were tested, from which 11 amplified the target gene fragment of Borrelia burgdorferi, with a carriage rate of 2.24%. Among them, the carriage rates in Mangshi City and Lianghe County were 1.58% and 3.43%, respectively, while no B. burgdorferi was detected in Mile City. Positive cases of Borrelia burgdorferi were detected in 4 species of rodents from 3 orders, 3 families, and 3 genera: Crocidura attenuata (9.09%, 1/11), Rattus tanezumi (3.27%, 8/245), Rattus nitidus (16.67%, 1/6), and Tupaia belangeri (7.69%, 1/13). There was a statistically significant difference in Borrelia burgdorferi carried among rodents from different habitats (P<0.05), with the highest carrying rate (7.29%) found in rodents from bushes. No significant differences were observed in carriage rates across different regions, species, genders, ages, or flea statuses (all P>0.05). Sequence alignment analysis revealed that the gene sequences of 11 positive samples showed 100% homology with some of the 5S-23S rRNA gene sequences of Borrelia burgdorferi included in GenBank. Evolutionary analysis showed that they clustered in the same branch as Borrelia valaisiana. Conclusions The carriage rate of Borrelia valaisiana in rodents from Mangshi City and Lianghe County in Yunnan Province is low, but there remains a potential risk to human health. No Borrelia burgdorferi was detected in rodents from Mile City.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and metabolic disorders are major components of noncommunicable diseases, causing an enormous health and economic burden worldwide. There are common risk factors and developmental mechanisms among them, indicating the far-reaching significance in exploring the corresponding therapeutic targets. MST1/2 kinases are well-established proapoptotic effectors that also bidirectionally regulate autophagic activity. Recent studies have demonstrated that MST1/2 influence the outcome of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases by regulating immune inflammation. In addition, drug development against them is in full swing. In this review, we mainly describe the roles and mechanisms of MST1/2 in apoptosis and autophagy in cardiovascular and metabolic events as well as emphasis on the existing evidence for their involvement in immune inflammation. Moreover, we summarize the latest progress of pharmacotherapy targeting MST1/2 and propose a new mode of drug combination therapy, which may be beneficial to seek more effective strategies to prevent and treat CVDs and metabolic disorders.

Theaflavins are a class of natural products extracted from black tea or green tea, with significant anti-tumor effects on gastric cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer and other tumors. Theaflavins were once considered as the new products for anticancer therapy. However, the anti-tumor mechanism of theaflavins involves a variety of biological processes, and the regulation is complex. Therefore, this article summarizes the role of theaflavins in promoting tumor cell apoptosis, inducing tumor cell mitotic arrest and regulating tumor immunity, and reviews the inhibition of tumorigenesis and growth through MAPK, PI3K/AKT, Hedgehog, NF-κB, JAK/STAT and Wnt/β-Catenin signal pathways, in order to provide new ideas for cancer treatment and anti-cancer drug development.

Objective:To learn about the infection and gene polymorphisms of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in murine-shaped animals of plague foci in Yunnan Province.Methods:From July to August 2019, around 16 natural villages (4 in Mile City, 6 in Mangshi and 6 in Lianghe County), which were the foci of domestic plague in Yunnan Province, the murine-shaped animals were captured by the night-time method. The liver RNA was extracted, and the target gene of rat HEV was detected by one-step real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR, and the positive rate of rat HEV was calculated. The rat HEV positive samples were amplified by PCR for further clone sequencing, and the resulting sequences were compared with the HEV sequences registered in the GenBank and a phylogenetic tree was constructed by using MegAlign and MEGA 7.0.Results:A total of 491 murine-shaped animals were captured from 3 orders, 5 families, 8 genera, 15 species, and the positive rate of rat HEV was 4.89% (24/491). Among them, the positive rate of Rattus tanezumi and Niviventer fulvescens was 9.39% (23/245) and 1/3, respectively; and other species were negative. There was a statistically significant difference in the positive rate of rat HEV between different habitats ( P = 0.014), and the positive rate of rat HEV in the habitats near the dwellings was higher than that in other habitats ( P < 0.05). The sequence comparison analysis showed that the gene sequence of P018 from Lianghe County was 100.0% homologous to the MG813927.1 sequence of the first patient with rat HEV in Hongkong, and it was clustered into the same branch with the sequences of MG813927.1 and LC549185.1 from rat, was the type HEV C. G024 from Mangshi shared a low homology (20.7% - 31.5%) with other virus strains, and it was clustered into the same branch with a HEV sequence from an avian (AY535004.1). Conclusions:Rat HEV is prevalent in murine-shaped animals of plague foci of Yunnan Province, and there may be gene polymorphisms of rat HEV. In addition, the difference infection rate may be related to the habitats.

Objective:To investigate the infection of spotted fever group Rickettsiae (SFGR) and Rickettsia mooseri ( R.mooseri) of wild rodents in the field of plague foci in Western Yunnan. Methods:The DNA of liver samples of 2 512 wild rodents captured from the plague foci in Lianghe County, Jianchuan County and Yulong County in Western Yunnan from 2015 to 2016 was extracted by magnetic bead method, and the heat shock protein groEL gene primers were used for nested PCR amplification. Gene sequence splicing and Blast homology comparison were performed using DNAStar 7.1 software and GenBank of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) of the United States, respectively, and DNAStar 7.1 and MEGA 6.0 softwares were used to construct phylogenetic trees.Results:The wild rodents infected with SFGR were Mus pahari, Rattus steini, Crocidura attenuata and Suncus murinus (one for each), with a total infection rate of 0.16% (4/2 512); no R.mooseri infection was detected. The SFGR infection rates of wild rodents in the plague foci of Lianghe County and Jianchuan County were 0.49% (3/611) and 0.10% (1/1 029), respectively; no SFGR infection was detected in the wild rodents in the plague foci of Yulong County. The homology analysis showed that the homology between SFGR positive samples and reference sequences was 95.45%-100.00%; some of the groEL gene sequences were highly similar among the four positive samples, and the homology was 89.60%-97.40%. Sequence evolution analysis showed that the sequences of three SFGR positive samples from the plague focus in Lianghe County were clustered in the same branch, and the homology reached 94.40%-97.40%; one positive sample sequence from the plague focus in Jianchuan County was clustered in one branch. Conclusion:SFGR infection rate of wild rodents in the field of plague foci in Western Yunnan is low, and no R.mooseri infection is found.