Objective: To analyze the school tuberculosis (TB) outbreaks and preventive treatment in Hefei from 2022 to 2024, so as to provide reference for TB prevention and control in schools. Methods: Data were collected on all school based TB outbreaks occurring during 2022-2024 in Hefei, defined as ≥2 epidemiologically linked TB cases within the same school during a single semester. Statistical analyses were performed using the Chi square test. Results: Close contacts exhibited significantly higher TB incidence (2.88%) and latent mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (LTBI) rates (13.80%) in the school TB outbreaks, compared to non close contacts (0.12% and 2.63%, respectively). Among close contacts, secondary school students showed lower TB incidence (0.48%) and LTBI prevalence (3.42%) than both primary school or younger children (0.68%, 6.95%) and college students ( 0.78% , 6.50%), with statistically significant differences ( χ 2=360.91, 6.37; 791.71, 102.03, all P <0.05). The proportion of LTBI individuals recommended for preventive therapy was higher in primary school or younger groups (98.59%) than in secondary (95.25%) or college students (86.34%) ( χ 2=25.86, P <0.01). However, among those recommended, close contacts had higher uptake (85.82%) and completion rates (87.25%) of preventive therapy than non close contacts (69.63% and 70.57%); similarly, secondary school students demonstrated higher uptake (91.21%) and completion rates (86.45%) compared to primary school or younger (88.57%, 83.87%) and college students (57.28%, 64.08%) ( χ 2=30.52, 26.72; 125.17, 38.84, all P <0.01). Subsequent TB incidence among LTBI close contacts (13.30%) and among those who did not complete preventive therapy (22.73%) were significantly higher than among non close contacts (2.80%, 2.41%), respectively ( χ 2=32.19, 13.87, both P <0.05). Conclusions In school TB outbreaks, close contacts face higher LTBI prevalence and subsequent TB risk than non close contacts. College students show notably low adherence to preventive therapy. It is necessary to take targeted measures to improve the compliance of preventive measures among students.

ObjectiveTo explore the effect and mechanism of Qigui Didang decoction， formulated based on the principle of Tonifying Deficiency and Unblocking Collaterals， on improving metabolic memory of db/db mice with diabetic nephropathy （DN） through silent information regulator 1 signal regulator 1 （Sirt1）/p53/nuclear factor kappa-B （NF-κB） p65 pathway. MethodsFifteen db/db mice were randomly divided into model group （10 mL·kg^-1·d^-1）， resveratrol group （20 mg·kg^-1·d^-1）， and Qigui Didang decoction group （3.34 g·kg^-1·d^-1） Another five db/m mice were selected as the normal group （10 mL·kg^-1·d^-1）. After the intervention， the kidney weight of each group was measured， and the kidney index （KI） was calculated. Fasting blood glucose （FBG）， creatinine （CRE）， β2-microglobulin （β2-MG）， blood urea nitrogen （BUN）， and cystatin C （CysC） were measured. Renal pathology was observed by hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining and Masson staining. The mRNA and protein expression levels of Sirt1， NF-κB， tumor suppressor gene p53， interleukin-1β （IL-1β）， and cysteine aspartate protease-3 （Caspase-3） were detected using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction （Real-time PCR） and Western blot. ResultsCompared with the normal group， the model group showed disordered renal structure， obvious renal damage， and markedly elevated levels of renal function indexes （CRE， β2-MG， BUN， and CysC） （P<0.01）. The KI and blood glucose were significantly increased （P<0.01）， while Sirt1 expression was markedly decreased （P<0.01）. Expression levels of NF-κB p65， p53， IL-1β， and Caspase-3 were increased significantly （P<0.05）. Compared with those in the model group， DN mice treated with Qigui Didang decoction exhibited significantly decreased FBG， improved renal function， and markedly decreased KI （P<0.01）， along with reduced CRE， β2-MG， BUN， and CysC levels （P<0.05）. Protein expression of Sirt1 was significantly upregulated （P<0.05）， while that of NF-κB p65， p53， IL-1β， and Caspase-3 was markedly decreased （P<0.05）. The mRNA expression levels of NF-κB p65， p53， IL-1β， and Caspase-3 were significantly decreased （P<0.05）. The staining results indicate improved renal fibrosis， significantly decreased fiber deposition （P<0.05）， and less inflammatory infiltration in the Qigui Didang decoction group. ConclusionThe findings suggest that Qigui Didang decoction can alleviate the metabolic memory effect of DN， thereby inhibiting renal cell apoptosis and inflammatory response in mice， and improving renal function. The mechanism of action is closely related to the Sirt1/p53/NF-κB p65 signaling pathway.

ObjectiveTo analyze the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of surveillance cases in a sentinel hospital for pertussis in Jiangxi Province in 2019, and to provide corresponding references for the prevention and control of pertussis. MethodsCase investigation of pertussis was conducted among sentinel hospital surveillance cases, collecting their basic information, epidemiological characteristics, clinical characteristics, and other information. ResultsA total of 125 pertussis surveillance cases were investigated in 2019, including 73 clinically diagnosed cases (58.40%) and 52 confirmed cases (41.60%). The age of onset was mainly concentrated in children under 5 years old (108 cases, 86.40%), with the largest number of cases in infants aged less than 1-year-old (48 cases, 38.40%). Most cases had a history of receiving pertussis vaccine before onset (110 cases, 88.00%), and the intervals between the onset date and the date of last dose of pertussis vaccine in the 1‒2 doses group were significantly shorter than that in the 3‒4 doses group (U=-5.990, P<0.001). Probable household transmission of pertussis was found in 3 cases. All cases had cough symptoms, mainly manifested as whooping cough (77 cases, 61.60%), in addition to other main clinical manifestations, such as fever (76 cases, 60.80%), vomiting (30 cases, 24.00%), conjunctival congestion (27 cases, 21.60%), and inspiratory whoop (16 cases, 12.80%). A total of 73 cases (58.40%) experienced complications, including 1 death case. All the cases had multiple medical visit experiences before this visit, with an interval of 2 (0,3) days between the onset date and the first visit date. The misdiagnosis rate at the first medical visit was 88.00% (110/125), and the misdiagnosis rate of the first visit in secondary and primary hospitals was significantly higher than that in tertiary hospitals, exhibiting a statistically significant difference (χ²=21.582, P<0.001). ConclusionThe clinical symptoms of pertussis cases are often atypical, and the first diagnosis is prone to misdiagnosis, so it’s necessary to further strengthen the early diagnosis capabilities for pertussis cases in healthcare institutions, especially in the primary healthcare institutions.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2021.10.012.].

Objective:To analyze the epidemic characteristics of mumps in people aged 0-14 years in Jiangxi Province and the vaccination situation of mumps-containing vaccines (including mumps vaccines) from 2015 to 2022 to provide a scientific basis for the prevention and control of mumps epidemic in Jiangxi Province.Methods:The mumps epidemic situation and mumps vaccination data in Jiangxi Province from 2015 to 2022 were obtained from Chinese Disease Prevention and Control Information System and Jiangxi Immunization Program Information System and were analyzed using descriptive epidemiological methods. The chi-square test, cluster analysis, and Cochran-Armitage trend test were used for statistical analysis.Results:From 2015 to 2022, a total of 40 734 cases of mumps were reported in people aged 0-14 in Jiangxi Province, with an annual average reported incidence rate of 53.69/100 000, and the peak of incidence occurred in aged 6-7 years group, and the reported incidence rate was 86.43/100 000. The high incidence seasons in 2015-2019 were summer and winter, and there was no significant high incidence season in 2020-2022. Mumps outbreaks mainly occurred in Shangrao, Ganzhou, and Ji'an, and the outbreak sites were mainly reported primary schools. From 2015 to 2019, the 1-year group was the primary age group for vaccination against mumps, while from 2020 to 2021, it was 0 and 1-year groups.Conclusions:From 2015 to 2022, the incidence of mumps in the population aged 0-14 in Jiangxi Province showed a downward trend, and the peak of incidence occurred in age group 6-7 years. It is suggested to continue to strengthen the coverage rate of 2 doses of mumps vaccination for school-age children and, simultaneously, strengthen the monitoring and prevention of mumps in key places to avoid outbreaks.

Objective The aim of this study was to explore the correlation between the methylation status of microRNA let-7a-3 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)and the expression of insulin-like growth factor 2(IGF-Ⅱ).Methods The methylation specific PCR(qMSP)was used to detect the methylation status of let-7a-3 in 83 cases of esophageal cancer and corre-sponding adjacent normal tissues.The enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)was used to detect the expression of IGF-Ⅱ in plasma.Results The degree of let-7a-3 methylation in cancer tissues of 83 patients with ESCC was significantly higher than that in normal tissues adjacent to cancer(P<0.001).The expression of IGF-Ⅱ in the plasma of 83 patients with ESCC was positively corre-lated with the methylation degree of let-7a-3,which was statistically significant(r=0.600,P<0.001).Conclusion microRNAlet-7a-3 may participate in the occurrence and progression of ESCC by regulating the methylation of downstream molecules,which is of great significance for understanding the mechanisms of ESCC development and providing a basis for the diagnosis and prognosis of ESCC.

The patient is a female infant who was born at a gestational age of 30⁺⁴ weeks in the breech position and was delivered by assisted vaginal delivery. She was admitted to the neonatal department of Tianjin First Central Hospital for 44 days, during which she had stable respiration, oxygen saturation, and regular weight gain. The patient was discharged home by her family. The infant was readmitted to the hospital due to poor appetite for 15 hours and irregular breathing with weak response for 4 hours at the corrected gestational age of 37⁺² weeks at 47 days after birth. The day before admission, the patient's mother experienced throat discomfort, and on the day of admission, the mother had a fever, with the highest temperature of 37.9 centigrade (she later tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antigen). About 15 hours before admission, the family noticed that the patient had poor milk intake and weakened suction. About 4 hours before admission, the patient developed irregular breathing and weakened responses. After admission, the patient presented frequent apnea, and it was not relieved by adjusting the respiratory mode and parameters of non-invasive assisted ventilation, as well as caffeine citrate to stimulate the respiratory center. The patient was eventually given mechanical ventilation and other symptomatic support treatments. The pharyngeal swab was positive for COVID nucleic acid testing with a Ct value of 20.1 for the N gene. And the chest X-ray showed multiple patchy shadows in both lungs. The patient was diagnosed with critical coronavirus disease (COVID) caused by the Omicron variant in premature infants. After treatment, the child was clinically cured and discharged 8 days after hospitalization. Symptoms of COVID in premature infants may be atypical, and the condition can deteriorate rapidly. During the Omicron variant epidemic, we should pay more attention to premature infants so as to detect severe and critical cases as early as possible, and treat them actively to improve the prognosis.
Humans ; Female ; Child ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; SARS-CoV-2 ; COVID-19 ; Infant, Premature ; Gestational Age

Objective:To predict and analyze the incidence trend of mumps using the Autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA) in Jiangxi Province.Methods:The ARIMA was used to model the number of mumps cases per month from 2015 to 2019 in Jiangxi Province. The number of mumps cases in 12 months was predicted and was compared with the actual reported cases in 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively.Results:The optimal model was ARIMA (0,2,1)(1,2,0) 12. The predicted number of cases was significantly higher than that reported in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The number of reported cases of mumps in 2020, 2021, and 2022 decreased by 54.02%, 63.40%, and 66.09% compared with the forecast. Conclusions:From 2020 to 2022, the reported incidence of mumps in Jiangxi Province was significantly lower than the predicted incidence. Considering that it was related to non-drug intervention measures and changes in immunization strategies, it was suggested to strengthen mumps surveillance further to better cope with the epidemic situation of mumps.

Objective:To explore the expression and clinical significance of Janus protein tyrosine kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK3/STAT5) signaling pathway in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with primary gouty arthritis (GA).Methods:Peripheral blood, clinical data and laboratory tests were collected from 50 patients with acute gout (AG), 50 patients with intermittent gout (IG) and 50 healthy controls (HC). Quantitative real-time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to detect mRNA expression level of JAK3/STAT5 related genes (JAK3, STAT5a, STAT5b). Enzyme linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect interleukin-2 (IL-2) concentration in subject′s plasma. Measurement data among the three groups that was in accordance with normal distribution was analyzed by one-way analysis of variance, pairwise comparisons using LSD, non-normal distribution data was analyzed by Mann-Whitney test or Kruskal-Wallis H test, and correlation analysis between variables was analyzed using Spearman correlation analysis. Results:① The mRNA expression levels of JAK3, STAT5a and STAT5b were significantly different among the three groups ( F=50.13, P<0.01; F=7.573, P=0.000 7; F=12.14, P<0.01), of which the JAK3 mRNA expression level in the HC group [(606±65)×10 -4] was significantly higher than that in the AG group [(103±13)×10 -4] and IG group [(114±24)×10 -4], and the difference was statistically significant (both P<0.01), while the STAT5a mRNA expression level in the AG group [(89±9)×10 -4] was significantly higher than that in the IG group [(59±4)×10 -4] and HC group [(61±4)×10 -4], and the difference was statistically significant ( P=0.002, P=0.003 9), and the expression level of STAT5b mRNA in HC group [(60±5)×10 -4] was significantly lower than that in AG group [(95±7)×10 -4] and IG group [(98±7)×10 -4], and the difference was statistically significant ( P=0.000 2, P<0.000 1). ② The difference of IL-2 concentration in plasma among the three groups was statistically significant ( F=22.87, P<0.01), and the serum IL-2 concentration in the AG group [(87.9±8.4) pg/ml] was significantly higher than that in the IG group [(32±4) pg/ml] and HC group [(44±4) pg/ml], and the difference was statistically significant (both P<0.01). ③ Spearman correlation analysis showed that the mRNA expression of STAT5a and STAT5b was positively correlated with the absolute value of neutrophils in patients with gout ( r=0.282, P<0.05; r=0.257, P<0.05). Conclusion:The IL-2/JAK3/STAT5 signaling pathway is involved in the occurrence and development of gout, suggesting that this pathway may play a key role in the pathogenesis of gout.

Objective:To describe the baseline characteristics of the subjects enrolled in the China Quantitative CT (QCT) big data program in 2018—2019.Methods:Based on baseline data from the Chinese health big data project from January 2018 to December 2019 from the eligible enrolled population, measurements of bone mineral density (BMD) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) were performed using Mindways′ QCT Pro Model 4 system. The baseline data of age, gender, regional distribution, height, weight, abdominal circumference, blood pressure, blood routine and blood biochemical tests were analyzed. And the single factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to check the age related trend of BMD and VAT in both genders.Results:After screening the inclusion exclusion criteria and outliers of the main indicators, 86 113 people were enrolled in the project. The enrollment rate was 92.47%, including 35 431 (41.1%) women and 50 682 (58.9%) men, and the ratio of men to women was 1.43. The mean age was (50.3±12.7) years in all the subjects, and it was (50.2±12.8) years and (50.4±12.5) years in men and women, respectively, and there was no statistical difference between the two genders ( P>0.05). Total of 43 833 people were enrolled in east China, it was the largest group by region (50.90%), it was followed by central China (16 434 people, 19.08%), and the number of people enrolled in Northeast China was the lowest (2 914 people, 3.38%). The rate of completing of health information indicators related to the main outcome of the study were all above 70%, and there were significant differences between men and women (all P<0.05). The mean BMD was (139.33±46.76) mg/cm 3 in women, (135.90±36.48) mg/cm 3 in men, which showed a decreasing trend with age in both gender (both P<0.001); the mean intra-abdominal fat area was (116.39±56.23) cm 2 in women, (191.67±77.07) cm 2 in men, and there was an increasing trend with age in both men and women (both P<0.001). Conclusions:There are gender differences in BMD and VAT measured by QCT with different age tendency, and there are gender differences in health information index. Regional factors should also be taken into account for regional differences in the inclusion of data.