Objective To investigate the effects of Echinococcus multilocularis infection on levels of memory T (Tm) cells and their subsets in lymph nodes of mice at different stages of infection, so as to provide new insights into immunotherapy for alveolarechinococcosis. MethodsTwenty-four C57BL/6J mice aged 6 to 9 weeks were randomly divided into the infection group and the control group, of 12 mice in each group. Mice in the infection group were administered with 3 000 E. multilocularis protoscoleces via portal venous injection, while animals in the control group were administered with an equal volume of physiological saline. Three mice from each group were sacrificed 4, 12 weeks and 24 weeks post-infection, and lymph nodes were sampled and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) to investigate the histopathological changes of mouse lymph nodes in the infection group. The expression and localization of T lymphocyte surface markers CD3, CD4, and CD8 were observed in mouse lymph nodes using immunohistochemical staining. In addition, lymphocyte suspensions were prepared from mouse lymph nodes in both groups at different time points post-infection, and the levels of Tm cell subsets and their secreted cytokines were detected using flow cytometry. Results HE staining showed diffuse structural alterations in the subcapsular cortical and paracortical regions of mouse lymph nodes in the infection group 4 weeks post-infection with E. multilocularis. Immunohistochemical staining detected CD3, CD4 and CD8 expression in mouse lymph nodes in both groups. Flow cytometry revealed higher proportions of CD4⁺ Tm cells [(55.3 ± 4.8)% vs. (38.8 ± 6.1)%; t = -4.259, P < 0.05] and CD4⁺ tissue-resident Tm (Trm) cells [(57.7 ± 3.7)% vs. (34.1 ± 11.2)%; t = -3.990, P < 0.05] in mouse lymph nodes in the infection group than in the control group 4 weeks post-infection, and higher proportions of CD4⁺ Tm cells [(34.6 ± 3.2)% vs. (23.3 ± 7.5)%; t = -2.764, P < 0.05] and CD4⁺ Trm cells [(44.0 ± 1.9)% vs. (31.2 ± 1.5)%; t = -4.039, P < 0.05] in mouse lymph nodes in the infection group than in the control group 24 weeks post-infection. The proportions of CD8⁺ Tm cells were higher in the infection group than in the control group 4 weeks [(56.8 ± 2.7)% vs. (43.9 ± 5.2)%; t = -4.416, P < 0.01] and 12 weeks post-infection [(25.4 ± 2.7)% vs. (12.0 ± 2.6)%; t = -2.552, P < 0.05], while the proportions of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α⁺ CD4⁺ T cells [(15.7 ± 5.0)% vs. (49.4 ± 6.4)%; t = 7.150, P < 0.01], TNF-α⁺CD8⁺ T cells [(20.7 ± 5.5)% vs. (57.5 ± 8.4)%; t = -6.694, P < 0.01], and TNF-α⁺ CD8⁺ Tm cells [7.0% (1.0%) vs. 31.0% (11.0%); Z = -2.236, P < 0.05] were lower in the infection group than in the control group 24 weeks post-infection. Conclusions Tm cells levels are consistently increased in lymph nodes of mice at different stages of E. multilocularis infection, with Trm cells as the predominantly elevated subset. The impaired capacity of CD8⁺ Tm cells to secrete the effector molecule TNF-α in mouse lymph nodes at the late-stage infection may facilitate chronic parasitism of E. multilocularis.

Objective To analyze the distribution of occupational hazard factors (OHFs) in key enterprises in Foshan City. Methods A total of 373 enterprises from 11 key industries in Foshan City in 2022 were selected as the research subjects using the purposive sampling method. Monitoring data of OHFs in workplaces were obtained and analyzed from the "Workplace Occupational Hazards Monitoring Information System" under "China Disease Prevention and Control Information System". Results Among the 373 enterprises, small and micro-sized enterprises, and large and medium-sized enterprises accounted for 85.5% and 14.5% respectively. A total of 24 137 sampling points in the workplaces were monitored for OHFs, with the national standard compliance rate of 92.1%. Among different OHFs, the compliance rates ranked from highest to lowest were chemical agents, dust, and noise (98.0% vs 89.3% vs 52.0%, P<0.01). A total of 63 131 workers were employed in 373 enterprises, among whom 29 753 were exposed to OHFs, yielding an overall exposure rate of 47.1%. Exposure rates of OHFs by enterprise scale, from highest to lowest, were micro-sized, small-sized, medium-sized, and large-sized enterprises (69.2% vs 52.7% vs 47.3% vs 39.0%, P<0.01). The proportion of workers participated in occupational medical examination was 85.1%, with re-examination proportion of 62.5% and the abnormality detection rate of 2.1%. Conclusion In key enterprises in Foshan City, the risk of noise exposure is relatively high, and the exposure rate of OHFs is highest in micro-sized enterprises. The occupational health supervision and management department needs to strengthen the governance of noise hazards in a targeted manner and urge enterprises (especially micro-sized enterprises) to fulfill their primary responsibilities in occupational disease prevention and control.

A method for the pretreatment and qualitative detection of 26 trace cathinone new psychoactive substances in wastewater was established and applied in actual wastewater cases. The effluent samples were eluted on the Oasis PRiME HLB solid phase extraction column by ultra-pure water drenching and methanol solution, then dried with nitrogen at 40 ℃, and finally re-dissolved with 0.1% formic acid-acetonitrile solution (95∶5), and detected by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, The effluent sample was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography-Tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) using selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode and separated on chromatographic column UPLC BEH C18(100 mm×2.1 mm, 1.7 μm） at 35 ℃ with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid in aqueous solution gradient elution. After methodological validation, the lower quantification of 26 cathinone new psychoactive substances could reach 1.50−3.00 ng/L. Among these, 21 analytes fell within the concentration range of 1.50−375.0 ng/L, while 5 were detected in the range of 3.00−750.0 ng/L, the correlation coefficient was 0.99, within-and between-batch precision was less than 7.71% and 13.91%, respectively, and the extraction recoveries were higher than 92.64% . The method is simple, accurate, and sensitive, and can be used for cathinone detection and abuse monitoring.

Objective: To explore the network structure of eating behaviors with anxiety, depression and perceived stress in adolescents, so as to provide a basis for effective prevention and intervention of eating behavior problems and negative emotions in adolescents. Methods: Based on the Psychology and Behavior Investigation of Chinese Residents (2021) database, the study was conducted among 3 087 adolescents. Sakata Eating Behavior Scale Short From(EBS-SF) was used to investigate their eating behaviors. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9(PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 Item(GAD-7), and Perceived Stress Questionnaire-3 Item (PSQ-3) were used to evaluate their depression, anxiety and perceived stress. Network analysis method was applied to construct a network of eating behaviors and negative emotional symptoms among adolescents, so as to evaluate the centrality, bridge strength, stability and accuracy of each item. Results: The total scores of eating behaviors, depression,anxiety and stress perception in adolescents were 17.41±4.53,6.95±6.08,4.86±5.03,9.34±3.80,respectively. The symptom with the highest intensity and expected impact was "I am only satisfied when I buy more food than I need", with a node intensity and expected impact value of 4.37. The nodes Depression and Anxiety were the most closely connected(weight=0.87). There were no statistically significant differences in the network structure( M =0.13,0.11) and network connection strength(female and male:4.16,4.06, s =0.10;urban and rural areas:4.08,4.07, s =0.01) between different sexes and residents ( P >0.05). Conclusion The negative impact of comorbidities such as anxiety, depression, perceived stress and eating behaviors among adolescents can be reduced through targeted prevention and intervention of core symptoms and bridging symptoms.

Microbial-derived metabolites are important mediators of host-microbial interactions. In recent years, the role of intestinal microbial metabolites in colorectal cancer has attracted considerable attention. These metabolites, which can be derived from bacterial metabolism of dietary substrates, modification of host molecules such as bile acids, or directly from bacteria, strongly influence the progression of colitis-associated cancer (CAC) by regulating inflammation and immune response. Here, we review how microbiome metabolites short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), secondary bile acids, polyamines, microbial tryptophan metabolites, and polyphenols are involved in the tumorigenesis and development of CAC through inflammation and immunity. Given the heated debate on the metabolites of microbiota in maintaining gut homeostasis, serving as tumor molecular markers, and affecting the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in recent years, strategies for the prevention and treatment of CAC by targeting intestinal microbial metabolites are also discussed in this review.
Humans ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome/physiology* ; Animals ; Carcinogenesis/metabolism* ; Colitis-Associated Neoplasms/microbiology* ; Fatty Acids, Volatile/metabolism* ; Bile Acids and Salts/metabolism* ; Colitis/microbiology*

BACKGROUND: The American Heart Association (AHA) introduced the concept of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) health and stage, reflecting the interaction among metabolism, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and the cardiovascular system. However, the association between CKM stage and the long-term risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has not been validated. This study aimed to evaluate the long-term CVD risk associated with CKM health metrics and CKM stage using data from a population-based cohort study. METHODS: In total, 5293 CVD-free participants were followed up to around 13 years in the Chinese Multi-provincial Cohort Study (CMCS). Considering the pathophysiologic progression of CKM health metrics abnormalities (comprising obesity, central adiposity, prediabetes, diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, CKD, and metabolic syndrome), participants were divided into CKM stages 0, 1, and 2. The time-dependent Cox regression models were used to estimate the cardiovascular risk associated with CKM health metrics and stage. Additionally, broader CVD outcomes were examined, with a specific assessment of the impact of stage 3 in 2581 participants from the CMCS-Beijing subcohort. RESULTS: Among participants, 91.2% (4825/5293) had at least one abnormal CKM health metric, 8.8% (468/5293), 13.3% (704/5293), and 77.9% (4121/5293) were in CKM stages 0, 1, and 2, respectively; and 710 incident CVD cases occurred during a median follow-up time of 13.3 years (interquartile range: 12.1 to 13.6 years). Participants with each poor CKM health metric exhibited significantly higher CVD risk. Compared with stage 0, the hazard ratio (HR) (95% confidence interval [CI]) for CVD incidence was 1.31 (0.84-2.04) in stage 1 and 2.27 (1.57-3.28) in stage 2. Significant interactive impacts existed between CKM stage and age or sex, with higher CVD risk related to increased CKM stages in participants aged <60 years or females. CONCLUSION These findings highlight the contribution of CKM health metrics and CKM stage to the long-term risk of CVD, suggesting the importance of multi-component recognition and management of poor CKM health in CVD prevention.
Humans ; Female ; Male ; Cardiovascular Diseases/etiology* ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Cohort Studies ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic/metabolism* ; Aged ; Risk Factors ; Metabolic Syndrome/metabolism* ; China ; East Asian People

Nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA), one of the most severe types of male infertility, etiology often remains unclear in most cases. Therefore, this study aimed to detect four biallelic detrimental variants (0.5%) in the minichromosome maintenance domain containing 2 ( MCMDC2 ) genes in 768 NOA patients by whole-exome sequencing (WES). Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) demonstrated that MCMDC2 deleterious variants caused meiotic arrest in three patients (c.1360G>T, c.1956G>T, and c.685C>T) and hypospermatogenesis in one patient (c.94G>T), as further confirmed through immunofluorescence (IF) staining. The single-cell RNA sequencing data indicated that MCMDC2 was substantially expressed during spermatogenesis. The variants were confirmed as deleterious and responsible for patient infertility through bioinformatics and in vitro experimental analyses. The results revealed four MCMDC2 variants related to NOA, which contributes to the current perception of the function of MCMDC2 in male fertility and presents new perspectives on the genetic etiology of NOA.
Humans ; Male ; Azoospermia/genetics* ; Meiosis/genetics* ; Spermatogenesis/genetics* ; Adult ; Exome Sequencing ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins/genetics* ; Alleles ; Infertility, Male/genetics*

Previous studies have identified two group-level processes, neural representations of interracial between-group difference and intraracial within-group similarity, that contribute to the racial categorization of faces. What remains unclear is how the brain tracks race-related information that varies across different faces as an individual-level neural process involved in race perception. In three studies, we recorded functional MRI signals when Chinese adults performed different tasks on morphed faces in which proportions of pixels contributing to perceived racial identity (Asian vs White) and expression (pain vs neutral) varied independently. We found that, during a pain expression judgment task, tracking other-race and same-race-related information in perceived faces recruited the ventral occipitotemporal cortices and medial prefrontal/anterior temporal cortices, respectively. However, neural tracking of race-related information tended to be weakened during explicit race judgments on perceived faces. During a donation task, the medial prefrontal activity also tracked race-related information that distinguished between two perceived faces for altruistic decision-making and encoded the Euclidean distance between the two faces that predicted decision-making speeds. Our findings revealed task-dependent neural mechanisms underlying the tracking of race-related information during face perception and altruistic decision-making.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Young Adult ; Brain/diagnostic imaging* ; Brain Mapping ; Decision Making/physiology* ; Facial Recognition/physiology* ; Judgment/physiology* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Photic Stimulation ; Racial Groups ; Social Perception ; East Asian People

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP), whose etiology is influenced by genetic and clinical risk factors, considerably impacts women's quality of life. However, the genetic underpinnings in non-European populations and comprehensive risk models integrating genetic and clinical factors remain underexplored. This study constructed the first polygenic risk score (PRS) for POP in the Chinese population by utilizing 20 disease-associated variants from the largest existing genome-wide association study. We analyzed a discovery cohort of 576 cases and 623 controls and a validation cohort of 264 cases and 200 controls. Results showed that the case group exhibited a significantly higher PRS than the control group. Moreover, the odds ratio of the top 10% risk group was 2.6 times higher than that of the bottom 10%. A high PRS was significantly correlated with POP occurrence in women older than 50 years old and in those with one or no childbirths. As far as we know, the integrated prediction model, which combined PRS and clinical risk factors, demonstrated better predictive accuracy than other existing PRS models. This combined risk assessment model serves as a robust tool for POP risk prediction and stratification, thereby offering insights into individualized preventive measures and treatment strategies in future clinical practice.
Humans ; Female ; Pelvic Organ Prolapse/epidemiology* ; Middle Aged ; Risk Assessment/methods* ; China/epidemiology* ; Multifactorial Inheritance ; Aged ; Risk Factors ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Case-Control Studies ; Adult ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Genetic Risk Score ; East Asian People