Objective:To analyze the epidemiological features of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in Beijing, and monitor the sequence variations in RSV glycoprotein (G) gene and clinical features of infected children.Methods:Respiratory tract specimens were collected from children with acute respiratory infection in the Children′s Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023. RSV-positive specimens screened by multiple nucleic acid testing were subjected to PCR to amplify the full-length RSV G gene. A phylogenetic tree was constructed after gene sequencing to analyze RSV subtypes and trace G gene variants. Clinical data were retrieved from the medical record system to analyze the clinical features of children with RSV infection in Beijing.Results:A total of 5 489 respiratory specimens were collected from 3 046 male patients and 2 443 female patients. The average age of the patients was 4.36 years. A total of 589 RSV-positive specimens (10.7%, 589/5 489) were detected with 349 from male patients and 240 from female patients. The average age of children with RSV infection was (2.51±2.78) years and the median age was 0.48 years. RSV had been circulating among children in Beijing since March 2023 with two epidemic peaks in May (24.6%, 122/496) and December (18.2%, 126/693). The predominant subtype of RSV in the first half of 2023 was subtype A, but it was replaced by subtype B from November 2023. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a novel G gene of RSV subtype B (RSV-B-BA9-954bp) with a length of 954 bp, which belonged to a new cluster in the phylogenetic tree. The percentage of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was higher in children with new variant of RSV subtype B infection than in those with common RSV subtype B infection [44.1% (15/34) vs 25.2% (31/123), χ 2=4.600, P=0.032], while the counts of white blood cells and the levels of C-reactive protein were lower in the children with new variant infection ( P<0.05). Conclusions:RSV has been prevalent among children in Beijing since March 2023 with two epidemic peaks. The predominant A subtype is gradually replaced by to B subtype. A new variant of RSV B G gene (RSV-B-BA9-954bp) is detected among the children.

Objective:To explore the pathogenic agents of acute respiratory infection (ARI) in children in Beijing.Methods:In the cross-sectional study, 3 groups of children from different departments were enrolled from Feb 6 th, 2023 (6 th week) to May 28 th (21 th week), 2023, including influenza-like case group from emergency department for nucleic acid testing of influenza virus (Flu) and human metapneumovirus (HMPV), the outpatient ARI group under nucleic acid testing for Flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus (ADV), and parainfluenza virus (PIV), and the inpatient ARI group under nucleic acid testing for Flu, RSV, HMPV, ADV, human bocavirus (HBoV), Rhinovirus (Rh), PIV, coronavirus (HCoV), Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp) and Chlamydia pneumonia (Cp). Results:There were 320 influenza-like cases enrolled, including 192 males and 128 females, aged 4.7 (3.6, 6.9) years, and 117 cases (36.6%) positive for Flu A, which contained similar proportion of pandemic H1N1 (H1N1) 47.0% (55/117) and H3N2 53.0% (62/117), and 13 cases for HMPV 4.1% (13/320). The rate of Flu reached its peak at the 10 th week, with H1N1 as the predominant one from the 6 th to 9 th week (10.0%-50.0%) and then H3N2 from the 10 th to 16 th week (15.0%-90.0%). HMPV was detected from the 15 th week 5.0% (1/20), and then reached to 30.0% (6/20) at the 20 th week. In the outpatient ARI group, 7 573 were enrolled, including 4 131 males and 3 442 females, aged 4.0 (2.1, 5.3) years, and the highest positive rate for RSV 32.9% (2 491/7 573), followed by Flu A 12.1% (915/7 573). The dominant one was Flu A in weeks 6-14 (23.2%-74.7%), then RSV in the 15 th week 24.8% (36/145). In the inpatient ARI group, 1 391 patients were enrolled, including 804 males and 587 females, aged 3.3 (0.4, 5.8) years, and the highest positive rate for Rh 18.7% (260/1 391), followed by RSV 12.4% (173/1 391), Flu A 10.2% (142/1 391, of which 116 cases (81.7%) were H1N1, and 26 cases (18.3%) were H3N2) and HMPV 3.1% (43/1 391). H1N1 was detected from the 7 th week 10% (6/60), to peak in the 11 th week 31.8% (21/66). H3N2 was detected from the 8 th week 1.5% (1/68), and then kept in low level. The proportion of H1N1 among Flu was 81.7% (116/142) in the inpatient ARI group. RSV was detected from 12 th week 1.3% (1/80), reaching 30.4% (35/115) at 19 th week. The positive rate of HMPV reached 12.1% (14/116) at 21 th week. Conclusions:In the spring of 2023, the first one in Beijing is the Flu epidemic, with H1N1 being the predominant one in the early stage and H3N2 in the later stage. Then, there is a postponed RSV epidemic and an increased HMPV detection. In addition, nucleic acid testing for outpatient children should be strengthened to provide early warning of epidemics.

Objective:To summarize the clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) in children.Methods:Clinical characteristics of 4 AFM cases from Department of Neurology, Children′s Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics, from September 2018 to November 2022, were analyzed retrospectively.Results:The age of 4 children with AFM was 7 years, 4 years and 3 months, 7 years and 1 month, 6 years and 5 months, respectively. There were 2 boys and 2 girls. Prodromal infection status showed 3 children of respiratory tract infection and 1 child of digestive tract infection. The main manifestation was asymmetrical limb weakness after infection, and the affected limb range was from monoplegia to quadriplegia. Cranial nerve injury was involved in 1 child, no encephalopathy. Magnetic resonance imaging in the spinal cord of all 4 children showed long T1 and T2 signals, mainly involving gray matter. Cerebrospinal fluid cell-protein separation was observed in 2 children. Pathogen detected in 1 child pharyngeal swab was enterovirus D68. Antibody IgM to adenovirus was positive in the blood of 1 child. Antibody IgG against Echo and Coxsackie B virus were positive in the blood of another child. After glucocorticoid, human immunoglobulin or simple symptomatic treatment and at the same time under later rehabilitation training, muscle strength recovered to different degrees, but there were disabilities left in 3 children.Conclusions:AFM should be considered in children with acute and asymmetrical flaccid paralysis accompanied by abnormal magnetic resonance imaging signal in the central region of spinal cord, especially post-infection. The effective treatment is limited and the prognosis is poor.

Objective: To investigate the serotype and drug resistance of 815 Salmonella isolates from Hunan Province, so as to provide insights into management of Salmonella infections. Methods: Salmonella isolates were collected from stool samples of foodborne diarrheal patients and food samples in Hunan Province from 2020 to 2021, and serotyped. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed using the broth microdilution method. Results: A total of 10 groups and 39 serotypes were characterized in 815 Salmonella isolates. Among the 646 Salmonella isolates of human sources, 388 isolates were identified as serogroup B (60.06%), with S. typhimurium and its variants aspredominant serotypes (364 isolates, 56.35%), and among 169 foodborne isolates, 61 isolates were characterized as serogroup B (36.09%) with S. london as the predominant serotype (26 isolates, 15.38%). There were 597 antimicrobial resistant Salmonella isolates of human sources, with a drug resistance rate of 92.41%, and the percentage of ampicillin resistance was 81.58%. There were 140 foodborne antimicrobial resistant isolates, with a drug resistance rate of 82.84%, and the proportion of tetracycline resistance was 72.78%. However, Salmonella isolates from both humans and foods were sensitive to imipenem. In addition, there were 577 multidrug resistant Salmonella isolates, including 490 multidrug resistant isolates of human sources and 87 foodborne multidrug resistant isolates. Conclusions S. typhimurium and its variants and S. london were predominant serotypes of Salmonella isolates from 815 foodborne diarrheal patients and food samples in Hunan Province from 2020 to 2021, and a high rate of multidrug resistance was detected.

Acute respiratory tract infection is the most common infectious disease in children, which seriously threatens children′s health.Rapid and accurate etiological diagnosis is of great significance for the clinical treatment and control of these diseases.Pathogen nucleic acid test was applied and became the main method of respiratory tract infection diagnosis for its high sensitivity and specificity.To regulate the application of pathogen nucleic acid amplification test in respiratory tract infection in children, improve the diagnosis level, expert consensus on nucleic acid amplification test of respiratory pathogens in children was prepared to guide the application and promote pathogens diagnosis ability.

Gastrointestinal cancers are the common malignant tumors of the digestive system, and their morbidity and mortality are in the forefront of malignant tumors. Currently, cancer immunotherapy is the hottest topic in cancer research field. Although cancer immunotherapy has achieved some results in the fundamental research and clinical application of gastrointestinal tumors, there are still a series of problems that need to be resolved. In this article, we review the fundamental and clinical research progress of several common methods of cancer immunotherapy in the field of gastrointestinal tumors.

Background: The incidence of ulcerative colitis (UC) has gradually increased in China in recent years. The pathogenesis of UC is related to the dysfunction of immune system. B7-H5 is an important immune checkpoint molecule and is significant for the regulation of immune function. Ainis: To investigate the expression and clinical significance of B7-H5 in UC. Methods: A total of 65 UC tissue specimens were collected from Jan. 2010 to Dec. 2020 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, and 5 healthy subjects were served as controls. Immunohistoehemistry and immunofluorescence were used to detect the expression of B7-H5, and its relationship with elinieopathologieal characteristics of UC patients was analyzed. Results: Expression of B7-H5 was significantly increased in UC patients than in controls (P < 0. 001). B7-H5 expression in UC patients was positively correlated with ESR and CRP (P < 0. 01), but not related to gender, age, extent of lesion, Mayo score and UCEIS score (P > 0. 05). Conclusions; The expression of B7-H5 in UC patients is significantly increased and is correlated with ESR and CRP, and can be used as a new marker for reflecting the severity of inflammation in UC patients.

Objective:To investigate the spectrum of pathogenic agents in pediatric patients with acute respiratory infections (ARI) during the outbreak of coronavirus infectious diseases 2019 (COVID-19).Methods:Three groups of children were enrolled into the prospective study during January 20 to February 20, 2020 from Capital Institute of Pediatrics, including children in the exposed group with ARI and epidemiological history associated with COVID-19 from whom both pharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swabs were collected, children in the ARI group without COVID-19 associated epidemiological history and children in the screening group for hospital admission, with neither COVID-19 associated epidemiological history nor ARI. Only nasopharyngeal swabs were collected in the ARI group and screening group. Each group is expected to include at least 30 cases. All specimens were tested for 2019-nCoV nucleic acid by two diagnostic kits from different manufacturers. All nasopharyngeal swabs were tested for multiple respiratory pathogens, whilst the results from the ARI group were compared with that in the correspondence periods of 2019 and 2018 used by t or χ 2 test. Results:A total of 244 children were enrolled into three groups, including 139 males and 105 females, the age was (5±4) years. The test of 2019-nCoV nucleic acid were negative in all children, and high positive rates of pathogens were detected in exposed (69.4%, 25/36) and ARI (55.3%, 73/132) groups, with the highest positive rate for mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) (19.4%, 7/36 and 17.4%, 23/132, respectively), followed by human metapneumovirus (hMPV) (16.7%, 6/36 and 9.8%, 13/132, respectively). The positive rate (11.8%, 9/76) of pathogens in the screening group was low. In the same period of 2019, the positive rate of pathogens was 83.7% (77/92), with the highest rates for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) A (29.3%, 27/92), followed by influenza virus (Flu) A (H1N1) (19.6%, 18/92) and adenovirus (ADV) (14.1%, 13/92), which showed significant difference with the positive rates of the three viruses in 2020 (RSV A: χ 2=27.346, P<0.01; FluA (H1N1): χ 2=28.083, P<0.01; ADV: χ 2=7.848, P=0.005) . In 2018, the positive rate of pathogens was 61.0% (50/82), with the highest rate for human bocavirus (HBoV) (13.4%, 11/82) and followed by ADV (11.0%, 9/82), and significant difference was shown in the positive rate of HBoV with that in 2020 (χ 2=6.776, P=0.009). Conclusions:The infection rate of 2019-nCoV is low among children in Beijing with no family clustering or no close contact, even with epidemiological history. The spectrum of pathogens of ARI in children during the research period is quite different from that in the previous years when the viral infections were dominant. MP is the highest positively detected one among the main pathogens during the outbreak of COVID-19 in Beijing where there is no main outbreak area.

Gastrodin is a phenolic glycoside that has been demonstrated to provide neuroprotection in preclinical models of central nervous system disease, but its effect in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) remains unclear. In this study, we showed that intraperitoneal administration of gastrodin (100 mg/kg per day) significantly attenuated the SAH-induced neurological deficit, brain edema, and increased blood-brain barrier permeability in rats. Meanwhile, gastrodin treatment significantly reduced the SAH-induced elevation of glutamate concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid and the intracellular Ca overload. Moreover, gastrodin suppressed the SAH-induced microglial activation, astrocyte activation, and neuronal apoptosis. Mechanistically, gastrodin significantly reduced the oxidative stress and inflammatory response, up-regulated the expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, heme oxygenase-1, phospho-Akt and B-cell lymphoma 2, and down-regulated the expression of BCL2-associated X protein and cleaved caspase-3. Our results suggested that the administration of gastrodin provides neuroprotection against early brain injury after experimental SAH.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Astrocytes ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Benzyl Alcohols ; administration & dosage ; Blood-Brain Barrier ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Brain ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Brain Edema ; etiology ; prevention & control ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Glucosides ; administration & dosage ; Glutamic Acid ; metabolism ; Male ; Microglia ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Neurons ; drug effects ; Neuroprotective Agents ; administration & dosage ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ; complications ; metabolism ; prevention & control

PURPOSE: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common age-dependent neurodegenerative disease. MiR-212 has been demonstrated to exert protective effects in several neurological disorders. The present study aimed to investigate the role and underlying molecular mechanism of miR-212 in PD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+)-induced SH-SY5Y cells were applied as a PD model in vitro. RTqPCR was used to measure the expression of miR-212 and Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) mRNA. Western blot analysis was performed to detect the protein levels of KLF4, Notch1 and Jagged1. Cell viability and apoptosis were determined by the Cell Counting Kit-8 and flow cytometry, respectively. Quantitative analysis of caspase-3 activity, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) was conducted with corresponding ELISA kits. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was employed to evaluate the relationship between miR-212 and KLF4. RESULTS: MiR-212 was downregulated in MPP+-induced SH-SY5Y cells. Also, miR-212 alleviated MPP+-induced SH-SY5Y cell damage, embodied by increased cell viability, decreased caspase-3 activity, LDH release, ROS production, TNF-α, and IL-1β expression, as well as elevated SOD levels. KLF4 was a direct target of miR-212, and miR-212 repressed KLF4 expression in a post-transcriptional manner. Moreover, miR-212-mediated protection effects were abated following KLF4 expression restoration in MPP+-induced SH-SY5Y cells, represented as lowered cell viability and enhanced apoptotic rate. Furthermore, Notch signaling was involved in the regulation of miR-212/KLF4 axis in MPP+-induced SH-SY5Y cells. CONCLUSION: miR-212 might attenuate MPP+-induced neuronal damage by regulating KLF4/Notch signaling pathway in SH-SY5Y cells, a promising target for PD therapy.
1-Methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ; Apoptosis ; Blotting, Western ; Caspase 3 ; Cell Count ; Cell Survival ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Flow Cytometry ; In Vitro Techniques ; Interleukin-1beta ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; Necrosis ; Nervous System Diseases ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Neurons* ; Parkinson Disease ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; RNA, Messenger ; Superoxide Dismutase