Objective To investigate the infection status and changing trend of hepatitis C virus(HCV)infection in hospitalized patients in medical institutions,and provide reference for formulating HCV infection prevention and control strategies.Methods HCV infection surveillance results from cross-sectional survey data reported to China Healthcare-associated Infection(HAI)Surveillance System in 2020 were summarized and analyzed,HCV positive was serum anti-HCV positive or HCV RNA positive,survey result was compared with the survey results from 2003.Results In 2020,1 071 368 inpatients in 1 573 hospitals were surveyed,738 535 of whom underwent HCV test,4 014 patients were infected with HCV,with a detection rate of 68.93％and a HCV positive rate of 0.54％.The positive rate of HCV in male and female patients were 0.60％and 0.48％,respectively,with a statistically sig-nificant difference(x2=47.18,P＜0.001).The HCV positive rate in the 50-＜60 age group was the highest(0.76％),followed by the 40-＜50 age group(0.71％).Difference among all age groups was statistically signifi-cant(x2=696.74,P＜0.001).In 2003,91 113 inpatients were surveyed.35 145 of whom underwent HCV test,resulting in a detection rate of 38.57％;775 patients were infected with HCV,with a positive rate of 2.21％.In 2020,HCV positive rates in hospitals of different scales were 0.46％-0.63％,with the highest in hospital with bed numbers ranging 600-899.Patients'HCV positive rates in hospitals of different scales was statistically signifi-cant(X2=35.34,P＜0.001).In 2020,12 provinces/municipalities had over 10 000 patients underwent HCV-rela-ted test,and HCV positive rates ranged 0.19％-0.81％,with the highest rate from Hainan Province.HCV posi-tive rates in different departments were 0.06％-0.82％,with the lowest positive rate in the department of pedia-trics and the highest in the department of internal medicine.In 2003 and 2020,HCV positive rates in the depart-ment of infectious diseases were the highest,being 7.95％and 3.48％,respectively.Followed by departments of orthopedics(7.72％),gastroenterology(3.77％),nephrology(3.57％)and general intensive care unit(ICU,3.10％)in 2003,as well as departments of gastroenterology(1.35％),nephrology(1.18％),endocrinology(0.91％),and general intensive care unit(ICU,0.79％)in 2020.Conclusion Compared with 2003,HCV positive rate decreased significantly in 2020.HCV infected patients were mainly from the department of infectious diseases,followed by departments of gastroenterology,nephrology and general ICU.HCV infection positive rate varies with gender,age,and region.

Four furan α-butenolactones were isolated from 50% acetone extract of tuber of Alisma orientale by silica gel column, chromatography gel column and high performance liquid chromatography techniques. Their structures were identified by modern wave spectroscopy techniques and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) and assigned as (5R)-5-hydroxy-3,4-dimethylfuran-2(5H)-one (1), 5-hydroxy-3,5-dimethylfuran-2(5H)-one (2), 5-hydroxy-4-(1-methylethyl)-2(5H)-furanone (3) and alismanoid A (4). Compound 1 was new compound and compounds 2–4 were first isolated from Alisma orientale. Compound 1-4 had potential antifibrotic activities.

Objective To investigate the incidence rate,clinical characteristics,and prognosis of neonatal stroke in Shenzhen,China.Methods Led by Shenzhen Children's Hospital,the Shenzhen Neonatal Data Collaboration Network organized 21 institutions to collect 36 cases of neonatal stroke from January 2020 to December 2022.The incidence,clinical characteristics,treatment,and prognosis of neonatal stroke in Shenzhen were analyzed.Results The incidence rate of neonatal stroke in 21 hospitals from 2020 to 2022 was 1/15 137,1/6 060,and 1/7 704,respectively.Ischemic stroke accounted for 75％(27/36);boys accounted for 64％(23/36).Among the 36 neonates,31(86％)had disease onset within 3 days after birth,and 19(53％)had convulsion as the initial presentation.Cerebral MRI showed that 22 neonates(61％)had left cerebral infarction and 13(36％)had basal ganglia infarction.Magnetic resonance angiography was performed for 12 neonates,among whom 9(75％)had involvement of the middle cerebral artery.Electroencephalography was performed for 29 neonates,with sharp waves in 21 neonates(72％)and seizures in 10 neonates(34％).Symptomatic/supportive treatment varied across different hospitals.Neonatal Behavioral Neurological Assessment was performed for 12 neonates(33％,12/36),with a mean score of(32±4)points.The prognosis of 27 neonates was followed up to around 12 months of age,with 44％(12/27)of the neonates having a good prognosis.Conclusions Ischemic stroke is the main type of neonatal stroke,often with convulsions as the initial presentation,involvement of the middle cerebral artery,sharp waves on electroencephalography,and a relatively low neurodevelopment score.Symptomatic/supportive treatment is the main treatment method,and some neonates tend to have a poor prognosis.

Objective To observe and compare the changes of vertebral bone mineral density(BMD)in the early stages of spinal Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.Methods Patients who underwent spinal surgery at Xiangya Hospital,Central South University from January 1 to December 31,2023 were continuously enrolled(spinal tuber-culosis group),based on gender matching,non-spinal tuberculosis surgical patients treated for spinal stenosis were selected as the control group.Dual-energy X-ray scans were performed on the enrolled patients,difference in verte-bral BMD between two groups of patients was compared.An animal model of spinal Mycobacterium tuberculosis in-fection(referred to as the animal model)was constructed,differences in microstructure of trabecular bone between spinal tuberculosis group and control group was compared,and the bone volume/tissue volume(BV/TV),the thickness of trabecular bone(Tb.Th),the number of trabecular bone(Tb.N),and sparse density of trabecular(Tb.Sp)were used as evaluation indexes to further analyze the bone quality differences between the diseased verte-brae and the neighboring vertebrae.Results 69 patients were included in the spinal tuberculosis group and the con-trol group,respectively.The BMD of patients in the spinal tuberculosis group(0.793[0.712,0.869]g/cm2)was lower than that of the control group(0.907[0.800,1.020]g/cm2),difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).Microstructure of trabecular bone BV/TV([18.4±5.4]％),Tb.Th([0.124±0.010]mm)in the spinal tuberculosis group of animal model were significantly altered compared with BV/TV([22.6±3.2]％),Tb.Th([0.160±0.017]mm)in the control group(both P＜0.05).In the spinal tuberculosis group,microstructure of diseased vetebral trabecular bone BV/TV([25.5±6.7]％)and Tb.N([1.871±0.443]/mm)were significantly lower than BV/TV([26.6±6.8]％)and Tb.N([1.969±0.454]/mm)in the neighboring vertebrae,both with statistically difference(both P＜0.05).Conclusion In the early stages of spinal Mycobacterium tuberculosis infec-tion,microstructure of vertebral trabecular bone can be altered,leading to a decrease in BMD.

Objective To monitor the susceptibility of clinical isolates to antimicrobial agents in tertiary hospitals in major regions of China in 2022.Methods Clinical isolates from 58 hospitals in China were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility using a unified protocol based on disc diffusion method or automated testing systems.Results were interpreted using the 2022 Clinical &Laboratory Standards Institute(CLSI)breakpoints.Results A total of 318 013 clinical isolates were collected from January 1,2022 to December 31,2022,of which 29.5％were gram-positive and 70.5％were gram-negative.The prevalence of methicillin-resistant strains in Staphylococcus aureus,Staphylococcus epidermidis and other coagulase-negative Staphylococcus species(excluding Staphylococcus pseudintermedius and Staphylococcus schleiferi)was 28.3％,76.7％and 77.9％,respectively.Overall,94.0％of MRSA strains were susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and 90.8％of MRSE strains were susceptible to rifampicin.No vancomycin-resistant strains were found.Enterococcus faecalis showed significantly lower resistance rates to most antimicrobial agents tested than Enterococcus faecium.A few vancomycin-resistant strains were identified in both E.faecalis and E.faecium.The prevalence of penicillin-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae was 94.2％in the isolates from children and 95.7％in the isolates from adults.The resistance rate to carbapenems was lower than 13.1％in most Enterobacterales species except for Klebsiella,21.7％-23.1％of which were resistant to carbapenems.Most Enterobacterales isolates were highly susceptible to tigecycline,colistin and polymyxin B,with resistance rates ranging from 0.1％to 13.3％.The prevalence of meropenem-resistant strains decreased from 23.5％in 2019 to 18.0％in 2022 in Pseudomonas aeruginosa,and decreased from 79.0％in 2019 to 72.5％in 2022 in Acinetobacter baumannii.Conclusions The resistance of clinical isolates to the commonly used antimicrobial agents is still increasing in tertiary hospitals.However,the prevalence of important carbapenem-resistant organisms such as carbapenem-resistant K.pneumoniae,P.aeruginosa,and A.baumannii showed a downward trend in recent years.This finding suggests that the strategy of combining antimicrobial resistance surveillance with multidisciplinary concerted action works well in curbing the spread of resistant bacteria.

This study was aimed at comparing performance differences among three metagenomic sequencing platforms,MGISEQ-2000,Illumina NextSeq 2000,and Ion GeneStudio S5 Plus,to optimize the sequencing process for trace samples.The three sequencing platforms were used to perform high-throughput sequencing on DNA standards and simulated samples.Through analysis of the quality of raw data and microbial detection capabilities,systematic differences among platforms were compared.The sequencing results were optimized for trace samples by incorporation of exogenous nucleic acids during the li-brary preparation process.In terms of data output per batch and base quality,MGISEQ-2000 surpassed the other two plat-forms.Illumina NextSeq 2000 had the lowest proportion of duplicate reads,whereas Ion GeneStudio S5 Plus had the highest proportion,and significant differences were observed across platforms(P＜0.001).In sequencing uniformity,MGISEQ-2000 and Illumina NextSeq 2000 were superior to Ion GeneStudio S5 Plus.MGISEQ-2000 provided a substantial advantage in microbial detection capability(P＜0.001),but the advantage diminished with decreasing bacterial fluid concentration.Ion GeneStudio S5 Plus had the shortest duration for single-batch sequencing.Moreo-ver,for trace samples with DNA content ≤0.05 ng,the experi-mental group(with added exogenous nucleic acids)achieved a higher number of reads than the control group(without exogenous nucleic acids),with a 11.09±8.03 fold increase.In conclu-sion,the different sequencing platforms each had advantages and disadvantages,thus allowing researchers to choose the appro-priate platform according to specific needs.Furthermore,the addition of exogenous nucleic acids improved the microorganism detection efficiency,and provided better support for subsequent diagnosis and evaluation of results.

Objective:To investigate the effect of feeder layer cells expressing interleukin(IL)-21 on the amplification of NK cells in vitro.Methods:The K562 cell line with IL-21 expression on its membrane was constructed by electroporation,and co-cultured with NK cells after inactivation.The proliferation of NK cells was observed.The killing function of the amplified NK cells in vitro was evaluated by the lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)and interferon-γ(IFN-y)release assay.A colorectal cancer xenograft model in NOD/SCID mice was established,and a blank control group,a NK cell group and an amplified NK cell group were set up to detect the tumor killing effect of amplified NK cells in vivo.Results:K562 cells expressing IL-21 on the membrane were successfully constructed by electroporation.After co-culturing with K562 cells expressing IL-21 on the membrane for 17 days,the NK cells increased to 700 times,which showed an enhanced amplification ability compared with control group(P＜0.001).In the tumor cell killing experiment in vitro,there was no significant difference in the killing activity on tumor cells between NK cells and amplified NK cells,and there was also no significant difference in mice in vivo.Conclusion:K562 cells expressing IL-21 on the membrane can significantly increase the amplification ability of NK cells in vitro,but do not affect the killing function of NK cells in vitro and in vivo.It can be used for the subsequent large-scale production of NK cells in vitro.

BACKGROUND:This study aims to explore whether Xuebijing(XBJ)can improve intestinal microcirculation dysfunction in sepsis and its mechanism. METHODS:A rat model of sepsis was established by cecal ligation and puncture(CLP).A total of 30 male SD rats were divided into four groups:sham group,CLP group,XBJ+axitinib group,and XBJ group.XBJ was intraperitoneally injected 2 h before CLP.Hemodynamic data(blood pressure and heart rate)were recorded.The intestinal microcirculation data of the rats were analyzed via microcirculation imaging.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)kits were used to detect the serum levels of interleukin-6(IL-6),C-reactive protein(CRP),and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)in the rats.Histological analysis and transmission electron microscopy were used to analyze the injury of small intestinal microvascular endothelial cells and small intestinal mucosa in rats.The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A(VEGF-A),phosphoinositide 3-kinase(P13K),phosphorylated P13K(p-PI3K),protein kinase B(Akt),and phosphorylated Akt(p-Akt)in the small intestine was analyzed via Western blotting. RESULTS:XBJ improved intestinal microcirculation dysfunction in septic rats,alleviated the injury of small intestinal microvascular endothelial cells and small intestinal mucosa,and reduced the systemic inflammatory response.Moreover,XBJ upregulated the expression of VEGF-A,p-PI3K/total P13K,and p-Akt/total Akt in the rat small intestine. CONCLUSION:XBJ may improve intestinal microcirculation dysfunction in septic rats possibly through the VEGF-A/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Eleven compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of the 95% aqueous ethanol extract of the roots of Sophora tonkinensis by silica gel, ODS, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, and semi-preparative RP-HPLC. Their structures were identified as 7-hydroxy-8-isopentenylchromone (1), furo[2,3-f]-1,3-benzodioxole-7-carboxylic acid (2), 6-[3-(2′,4′-dihydroxyphenyl)acryloyl]-7-hydroxy-2,2-dimethyl-8-(3-methyl-2-butenyl)-2H-benzopyran (3), flemichapparin B (4), tectorigenin (5), genistein (6), 6-hydroxy-1,3-benzodioxole-5-carboxylic acid (7), vanillic acid (8), protocatechuic acid (9), 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (10), and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (11) through extensive spectroscopic data (IR, UV, HR-ESI-MS, and NMR spectra). Among them, compounds 1 and 2 were new compounds. In addition, compound 3 showed significant α-glucosidase and protein tyrosine phosphatase-1B (PTP1B) inhibitory activities with IC₅₀ values of 5.595 and 0.320 μmol·L^-1, respectively.

Objective: The docking and superantigen activity sites of staphylococcal enterotoxin-like W (SElW) and T cell receptor (TCR) were predicted, and its SElW was cloned, expressed and purified. Methods: AlphaFold was used to predict the 3D structure of SElW protein monomers, and the protein models were evaluated with the help of the SAVES online server from ERRAT, Ramachandran plot, and Verify_3D. The ZDOCK server simulates the docking conformation of SElW and TCR, and the amino acid sequences of SElW and other serotype enterotoxins were aligned. The primers were designed to amplify selw, and the fragment was recombined into the pMD18-T vector and sequenced. Then recombinant plasmid pMD18-T was digested with BamHⅠand Hind Ⅲ. The target fragment was recombined into the expression plasmid pET-28a(+). After identification of the recombinant plasmid, the protein expression was induced by isopropyl-beta-D- thiogalactopyranoside. The SElW expressed in the supernatant was purified by affinity chromatography and quantified by the BCA method. Results: The predicted three-dimensional structure showed that the SElW protein was composed of two domains, the amino-terminal and the carboxy-terminal. The amino-terminal domain was composed of 3 α-helices and 6 β-sheets, and the carboxy-terminal domain included 2 α-helices and 7 antiparallel β-sheets composition. The overall quality factor score of the SElW protein model was 98.08, with 93.24% of the amino acids having a Verify_3D score ≥0.2 and no amino acids located in disallowed regions. The docking conformation with the highest score (1 521.328) was selected as the analysis object, and the 19 hydrogen bonds between the corresponding amino acid residues of SElW and TCR were analyzed by PyMOL. Combined with sequence alignment and the published data, this study predicted and found five important superantigen active sites, namely Y18, N19, W55, C88, and C98. The highly purified soluble recombinant protein SElW was obtained with cloning, expression, and protein purification. Conclusions: The study found five superantigen active sites in SElW protein that need special attention and successfully constructed and expressed the SElW protein, which laid the foundation for further exploration of the immune recognition mechanism of SElW.
Humans ; Enterotoxins/genetics* ; Superantigens/genetics* ; Catalytic Domain ; Selenoprotein W/metabolism* ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell