Abstract:Objective　To investigate the clinical characteristics and early diagnostic methods of patients with Talaromyces marneffei infection, so as to reduce the mortality of patients. Methods The clinical characteristics and microbiological analysis data including fungal culture, smear examination and mass spectrometry were collected from 18 patients with Talaromyces marneffei infection in the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Tuberculosis, and Department of Critical Respiratory Medicine in Fuzhou Pulmonary Hospital from January 2017 to December 2021, and descriptive analysis was conducted. Results　All the 18 patients were confirmed to be infected with Talaromyces marneffei by conventional culture and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS). The main infection sites of 18 patients with Talaromyces marneffei infection were lungs and lymph nodes, and the patients were accompanied by clinical manifestations such as cough, sputum and fever. The imaging features such as patchy shadows, mediastinal lymph node shadows and nodular shadows were common. Microbiological testing showed a statistically significant difference between smear and culture with a higher positive culture rate (χ2=13.74, P<0.05). The positive rate of blood culture in microbiological test was 60.0% (9/15), the positive rate of bronchial lavage fluid culture was 26.7% (4/15), the positive rate of sputum culture was 5.6% (1/18), one case each of pus, bone marrow, pleural fluid and cerebrospinal fluid was positive for culture and the other cases were negative, one case of sputum and one case of pus were positive for smear and the rest were negative. Colony characteristics showed that the colony morphology was mycelial phase at 25 ℃, producing red pigment, and the branching pattern of the penicillus was seen microscopically as monoverticillate or biverticillate; At 35 ℃, the yeast phase appeared at the initial stage, and then the mycelium phase changed after 5-6 days; the yeast phase was observed at 37 ℃, and yeast-like cells were seen under the microscope. All 18 patients with Talaromyces marneffei infection got better after using antifungal drugs. Compared with non-HIV patients with Talaromyces marneffei infection, leukopenia and anemia were common in HIV patients with Talaromyces marneffei infection, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). 　Conclusions The infection of Talaromyces marneffei can be divided into localized type and disseminated type, which usually invade the lungs, skin, lymph nodes and other places. The main manifestations of patients are fever, cough, phlegm and other atypical symptoms. At present, the diagnosis of Talaromyces marneffei infection is mostly based on the fungal culture test, and the application of MALDI-TOF MS method can effectively shorten the diagnosis time of Talaromycosis marneffei. Clinical characteristics combined with microbiological analysis provide an objective basis for early diagnosis of patients with Talaromyces marneffei infection, and timely use of antifungal therapy can improve the prognosis of patients.

Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain charac-terized by abnormal neuron excitability.However,the underlying molecular mechanism of neuron excitability modulation remains elusive.With the help of bioinformatic methods,we have identified receptor-type tyrosine-pro-tein phosphatase-like N(PTPRN)as a critical gene dur-ing epileptogenesis.PTPRN recruits NEDD4L ubiquitin E3 ligase to NaV1.2 sodium channels,facilitating NEDD4L-mediated ubiquitination and endocytosis.Knockout of PTPRN endows hippocampal granule cells with augmented depolarization currents and higher intrinsic excitability,which is reflected by increased seizure susceptibility of transgenic mice.On the contrary,reduced neuron excit-ability and decreased seizure susceptibility are observed after PTPRN overexpression.Meanwhile,we find that a 133 aa fragment recaptures modulation effect of PTPRN full-length,and this fragment shows therapeutic potential towards epilepsy caused by NaV1.2 gain of function vari-ants.In brief,our results demonstrate PTPRN playsa criti-calroleinregulatingneuronexcitability,providing a poten-tial therapeutic approach for epilepsy.

BACKGROUND: The benefits of healthy lifestyles are well recognized. However, the extent to which improving unhealthy lifestyles reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk needs to be discussed. We evaluated the impact of lifestyle improvement on CVD incidence using data from the China-PAR project (Prediction for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in China). METHODS: A total of 12,588 participants free of CVD were followed up for three visits after the baseline examination. Changes in four lifestyle factors (LFs) (smoking, diet, physical activity, and alcohol consumption) were assessed through questionnaires from the baseline to the first follow-up visit. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The risk advancement periods (RAPs: the age difference between exposed and unexposed participants reaching the same incident CVD risk) and population-attributable risk percentage (PAR%) were also calculated. RESULTS: A total of 909 incident CVD cases occurred over a median follow-up of 11.14 years. Compared with maintaining 0-1 healthy LFs, maintaining 3-4 healthy LFs was associated with a 40% risk reduction of incident CVD (HR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.45-0.79) and delayed CVD risk by 6.31 years (RAP: -6.31 [-9.92, -2.70] years). The PAR% of maintaining 3-4 unhealthy LFs was 22.0% compared to maintaining 0-1 unhealthy LFs. Besides, compared with maintaining two healthy LFs, improving healthy LFs from 2 to 3-4 was associated with a 23% lower risk of CVD (HR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.60-0.98). CONCLUSIONS Long-term sustenance of healthy lifestyles or improving unhealthy lifestyles can reduce and delay CVD risk.

This study aimed to investigate the neurotoxicity induced by trichloroacetic acid (TCA) and the possible protective mechanisms of boron (B). Mouse BV2 cells were treated with TCA (0, 0.39, 0.78, 1.56, 3.12, 6.25, or 12.5 mmol/L) and B (0, 7.8, 15.6, 31.25, 62.5, 125, 500, or 1,000 mmol/L) for 3 h and 24 h, respectively. Then, reactive oxygen species, and supernatant proinflammatory cytokine and protein levels were analyzed after 24 h of combined exposure. Beyond the dose-dependent decrease in the cellular viability, it clearly increased after B supplementation ( P < 0.05). Moreover, B decreased oxidative damage, and significantly down-regulated IL-6 levels and up-regulated TNF-β production ( P < 0.05). B also decreased apoptosis via the p53 pathway. The present findings indicated that TCA may induce oxidative damage, whereas B mitigates these adverse effects by decreasing cell apoptosis.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Boron/toxicity* ; Mice ; Oxidative Stress ; Reactive Oxygen Species/metabolism* ; Trichloroacetic Acid/toxicity* ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/metabolism*

BACKGROUND: The association of milk intake with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cause-specific mortality remained controversial and evidence among the Chinese population was limited. We aimed to study the relationship between milk intake and CVDs among general Chinese adults. METHODS: A total of 104,957 participants received questionnaire survey. Results of physical examination such as anthropometric measurements and biochemical tests during 2007 to 2008, demographic data and their information on milk intake were collected through standardized questionnaires. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of CVD incidence, cause-specific mortality and all-cause mortality related to milk intake. Restricted cubic splines (RCSs) were applied to examine dose-response associations. RESULTS: Among the 91,757 participants with a median follow-up period of 5.8 years, we documented 3877 CVD cases and 4091 all-cause deaths. Compared with participants who never consumed milk, the multivariate-adjusted HRs (95% CIs) of CVD incidence for 1 to 150 g/day, 151 to 299 g/day, and ≥300 g/day were 0.94 (0.86-1.03) (P > 0.05), 0.77 (0.66-0.89) (P < 0.05), and 0.59 (0.40-0.89) (P < 0.05), respectively; each 100 g increase of daily milk intake was associated with 11% lower risk of CVD incidence (HR, 0.89; 95% CI: 0.85-0.94; P < 0.001), and 11% lower risk of CVD mortality (HR, 0.89; 95% CI: 0.82-0.97; P = 0.008) after adjustment for age, sex, residential area, geographic region, education level, family history of CVD, smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity level, body mass index, and healthy diet status (ideal or not). RCS analyses also showed a linear dose-response relationship with CVD (P for overall significance of the curve <0.001; P for non-linearity = 0.979; P for linearity <0.001) and stroke (P for overall significance of the curve = 0.010; P for non-linearity = 0.998; P for linearity = 0.002) incidence, and CVD mortality (P for overall significance of the curve = 0.045; P for non-linearity = 0.768; P for linearity = 0.014) within the current range of daily milk intake. CONCLUSIONS Daily milk intake was associated with lower risk of CVD incidence and mortality in a linear inverse relationship. The findings provide new evidence for dietary recommendations in CVD prevention among Chinese adults and people with similar dietary pattern in other countries.

Objective Transdifferentiation exists between stromal cells or between stromal cells and cancer cells. Evodiamine and berberine are predominant pharmacological components of pill, a prescription of Traditional Chinese Medicine, playing crucial functions in remolding of tumor microenvironment. This study aimed to explore the effect of combination of evodiamine with berberine (cBerEvo) on the phenotypic transition of colon epithelial cells induced by tumor-associated fibroblasts, as well as the involved mechanisms.Methods Human normal colon epithelial cell line HCoEpiC cells were treated with the prepared conditioned medium of CCD-18Co, a human colon myofibroblast line, to induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Phase contrast microscope was used to observe the morphological changes. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers including E-cadherin, vimentin and alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were observed with immunofluorescence microscopy. Migration was assessed by wound healing assay. Western blotting was used to detect the expressions of E-cadherin, vimentin, α-SMA, Snail, ZEB1 and Smads. Results In contrast to the control, the tumor-associated fibroblasts-like CCD-18Co cells induced down-regulation of E-cadherin and up-regulation of vimentin, α-SMA, Snail and ZEB1 (<0.05), and promoted migration of HCoEpiCs (<0.05), with over expression of Smads including Smad2, p-Smad2, Smad3, p-Smad3 and Smad4 (<0.05), which were abolished by a transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) receptor inhibitor LY364947 and by cBerEvo in a concentration dependent manner. In addition, cBerEvo-inhibited ratios of p-Smad2/Smad2 and p-Smad3/Smad3 were also dose dependent.Conclusion The above results suggest that cBerEvo can regulate the differentiation of colon epithelial cells induced by CCD-18Co through suppressing activity of TGF-β/Smads signaling pathway.

Rehabilitation physician training is an important part of the development of rehabilitation medicine.Rehabilitation physician education in Taiwan has a complete and standardized training system,and rehabilitation physician training in mainland China is mainly achieved through standardized residency training.This article compares the differences in training processes for rehabilitation physicians in education in medical colleges and universities,residency training,and specialist training between Taiwan and mainland China.The results show that rehabilitation physician training in Taiwan is rigorous and orderly,with reasonable contents,clear objectives,strong specialty,and standardized assessment,while in mainland China,rehabilitation physicians in mainland China have insufficient training time,and there is a lack of detailed training plan and unified assessment standards.Rehabilitation physician training in mainland China needs to learn from advanced experience,further reform the training process,improve the operability of the overall education program,and perfect the training system of rehabilitation physicians.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to characterize the diagnostic and vaccine potential of a novel Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen Rv0674. METHODS: To evaluate the diagnostic potential and antigenicity of Rv0674, IgG was evaluated using ELISA and interferon (IFN)-γ was done by using ELISpot assay among TB patients and healthy donors. For immunogenicity evaluation, BALB/c mice were immunized with Rv0674. Cytokine production was determined by cytokine release assay using an ELISA kit, and the antibodies were tested using ELISA. RESULTS: The results of serum Elisa tests showed that Rv0674 specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) response was higher in TB patients than negative controls. And Rv0674 had good performance in serological test with sensitivity and specificity of 77.1% and 81.1%, respectively. While it shows poor sensitivity and specificity of 26.23% and 79.69% for IFN-γ tests. In BALB/c mice, Rv0674 adjuvant by DDA/Poly I:C could also induce a high level of IFN-γ, interleukin-2 and interleukin-6 as well as a high IgG titer in both high- and low-dose groups indicating that Rv0674 is essential in humoral and cellular immunity. Moreover, the cytokine profile and IgG isotype characterized Rv0674 as a Th1/Th2-mixed-type protective immunity with the predominance of Th1 cytokines. CONCLUSION Rv0674 may be a good potential candidate for the development of TB serological diagnosis and a new TB vaccine.
Adult ; Aged ; Animals ; Antigens, Bacterial ; immunology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular ; Immunity, Humoral ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Middle Aged ; Tuberculosis ; diagnosis ; immunology ; Young Adult

Rhizosphere bacteria play a vital role in plant nutrition absorption,growth and disease resistance. In this study,high-throughput sequencing technology was used to analyze the rhizosphere bacterial communities of Salvia miltiorrhiza and S. miltiorrhiza f. alba. Moreover,the function of dominant rhizosphere bacterial communities was analyzed. We found that Sphingobacteriales,Sphingomonadales and Nitrosomonadaceae were both dominant and specific bacteria in the rhizosphere of S. miltiorrhiza. The main functions of dominant rhizosphere bacteria communities in both species include promoting transformation of soil nutrients,improving plant immunity and ability of stress tolerance. This study was the first to compare rhizobacterial communities structure and function of S. miltiorrhiza and S. miltiorrhiza f. alba,which provided a new theoretical reference for studing the rhizosphere mechanism of healthy S. miltiorrhiza planting in the future.
Bacteria ; classification ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Rhizosphere ; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; microbiology ; Soil Microbiology

OBJECTIVETo establish the intrauterine growth percentile curves of full-term neonates with different gestational ages (GAs) born to primiparous or multiparous women, and to investigate the influence of parity on intrauterine growth potential.

METHODSCross-sectional cluster sampling was performed from April 2013 to September 2015 to measure physical growth in full-term singleton infants with a GA of 37-41 weeks in two hospitals in Shenzhen, China. The Lambda-Mu-Sigma method was used for curve fitting.

RESULTSThe mean values of birth weight, body length, head circumference, chest circumference, and crown-rump length were obtained in 14 529 full-term infants. The 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile curves of the five indices were established. The full-term infants born to multiparous women had similar patterns and growth trends of the five percentile curves of the above five indices to those born to primiparous women, while the full-term infants with a GA of 37-41 weeks born to multiparous women had higher mean values and percentile curve values of the above five indices than those born to primiparous women. In the group with a GA of 41 weeks, there was no significant difference in the crown-rump length between the infants born to primiparous women and those born to multiparous women, but there were significant differences in the means of the above five indices in all the other GA groups between the two group infants (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSFull-term infants with a GA of 37-41 weeks born to multiparous women have higher intrauterine growth levels of birth weight, body length, head circumference, chest circumference, and crown-rump length than those born to primiparous women, suggesting that parity is an important influencing factor for intrauterine growth potential.

Birth Weight ; Body Height ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Fetal Development ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Parity ; Pregnancy