Association of atopy with disease severity in children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia

BackgroundMycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) is common among children, but the impact of atopy on MPP severity in children is unknown. This study investigated whether atopic vs. nonatopic children had greater MPP severity.MethodsRetrospective analysis was conducted on 539 (ages 3–14 years) patients who were hospitalized in the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University for MPP between January 2018 and December 2021, 195 were atopic and 344 were nonatopic. Of them, 204 had refractory MPP, and 335 had general MPP. And of atopic children, 94 had refractory MPP, and 101 had general MPP. Data on demographic and clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, clinical treatments were analyzed.ResultsSignificantly more boys with MPP were atopic than nonatopic (P < 0.05). More atopic (than nonatopic) children presented with prolonged fever and hospitalization, severe extra-pulmonary complications, asthma attaking, steroid and oxygen treatment, and increased IgE levels (all P < 0.05). In atopic (vs. nonatopic) children with MPP, the incidence of sputum plugs under the fiberoptic bronchoscopy and lobar pneumonia was significantly increased and required bronchoscopy-assisted and steroid therapy. Compared with nonatopic children, more atopic children developed refractory MPP (P < 0.05). Prolonged fever and hospitalization, severe extra-pulmonary complications, lymphocyte count, procalcitonin and lactate dehydrogenase levels, and percentages of atopy were all significantly higher (P < 0.05) among children with refractory MPP vs. general MPP. Moreover, Prolonged fever and hospitalization, lymphocyte count, procalcitonin and lactate dehydrogenase levels, and the treantment of steroid were all significantly higher (P < 0.05) among atopic children with refractory MPP vs. general MPP. Spearman correlation analysis showed strong associations between atopy and male sex, length of hospital stay, fever duration, IgE level, wheezing, lobar pneumonia, refractory MPP, and treatment with oxygen, hormones or bronchoscopy (P < 0.05).ConclusionsAtopy may be a risk factor for and was positively correlated with the severity of MPP in children

What Are the Effects of Participation in Production Outsourcing? Evidence from Chinese Apple Farmers

Outsourcing, as a productive service, has been widely adopted in industrial production and international trade but less applied in agricultural management. With the advancement of agricultural labor division and specialization, outsourcing is becoming one of the most sustained trends in concurrent business. This study used a multiple linear regression and a propensity score matching model to quantify the different effects of participation in production outsourcing on farmers’ apple production efficiency and apple income based on field survey data from 960 apple farmers in the Shandong, Shaanxi, and Gansu Provinces. The results showed that, on average, the outsourcing of apple production increased farmers’ apple production technology efficiency by 5.60%, their labor productivity by 2121.48 kg/person, land productivity by 334.50 kg/mu, capital productivity by 0.05 kg/Yuan, and apple sales revenue by 13,300 Yuan. However, farmers’ net income from apples decreased by an average of 5000 Yuan. The outsourcing of apple production, which is labor-intensive, is constrained by the increase in labor costs, which, in turn, affect the transformation of the apple industry into a service-scale operation driven by the economy of division

Abnormal meiosis in an intersectional allotriploid of Populus L. and segregation of ploidy levels in 2x × 3x progeny.

Triploid plants are usually highly aborted owing to unbalanced meiotic chromosome segregation, but limited viable gametes can participate in the transition to different ploidy levels. In this study, numerous meiotic abnormalities were found with high frequency in an intersectional allotriploid poplar (Populus alba × P. berolinensis 'Yinzhong'), including univalents, precocious chromosome migration, lagging chromosomes, chromosome bridges, micronuclei, and precocious cytokinesis, indicating high genetic imbalance in this allotriploid. Some micronuclei trigger mini-spindle formation in metaphase II and participate in cytokinesis to form polyads with microcytes. Unbalanced chromosome segregation and chromosome elimination resulted in the formation of microspores with aneuploid chromosome sets. Fusion of sister nuclei occurs in microsporocytes with precocious cytokinesis, which could form second meiotic division restitution (SDR)-type gametes. However, SDR-type gametes likely contain incomplete chromosome sets due to unbalanced segregation of homologous chromosomes during the first meiotic division in triploids. Misorientation of spindles during the second meiotic division, such as fused and tripolar spindles with low frequency, could result in the formation of first meiotic division restitution (FDR)-type unreduced gametes, which most likely contain three complete chromosome sets. Although 'Yinzhong' yields 88.7% stainable pollen grains with wide diameter variation from 23.9 to 61.3 μm, the pollen viability is poor (2.78% ± 0.38). A cross of 'Yinzhong' pollen with a diploid female clone produced progeny with extensive segregation of ploidy levels, including 29 diploids, 18 triploids, 4 tetraploids, and 48 aneuploids, suggesting the formation of viable aneuploidy and unreduced pollen in 'Yinzhong'. Individuals with different chromosome compositions are potential to analyze chromosomal function and to integrate the chromosomal dosage variation into breeding programs of Populus

Segregation of ploidy levels in the progeny between <i>P</i>. <i>tomentosa</i> × <i>P</i>. <i>bolleana</i> YB03 and <i>P</i>. <i>alba</i> × <i>P</i>. <i>berolinensis</i> ‘Yinzhong’.

<p>a. Histogram of seedling number with different ploidy levels among the progeny (Aneuploid I: containing chromosome number between 38 and 57; Aneuploid II: containing chromosome number between 57 and 76); b–e. Somatic chromosome counting in some aneuploid individuals. The chromosome numbers are 45 (b), 52 (c), 53 (d), and 68 (e).</p

Spindle misorientations and meiotic products.

<p>a–c. Anaphase II with parallel spindles (a), fused spindles (b) and tripolar spindles (c); d. Metaphase II with an organelle band (arrow) between two spindles; e–f. Metaphase II with a mini-spindle showing chromosome arrangement (e) and microtubule distribution (f); g–h. Anaphase II with a mini-spindle showing chromosome arrangement (g) and microtubule distribution (h); i. Polyad with microcytes (arrow); j–o. Tetrads with different arrangements of daughter cells; p. Tetrad with unbalanced cytokinesis. Bars are equal to 10 μm in (a)–(c), (i)–(p); bars are equal to 5 μm in (d)–(h).</p

Meiotic abnormalities of the allotriploid <i>P</i>. <i>alba</i> × <i>P</i>. <i>berolinensis</i> ‘Yinzhong’.

<p>a. Early metaphase I with several univalents and trivalents (arrows); b–c. Metaphase I with a multipolar spindle showing chromosome arrangement (b) and microtubule distribution (c); d. Metaphase I with precociously migrated chromosomes; e. Anaphase I with lagging chromosomes (arrow); f. Telophase I with micronucleus (arrow); g. Telophase II with micronucleus (arrow); h. Anaphase II with chromosome bridge (arrow); i. DAPI stained Telophase II showing chromosome bridge (arrow). a, d–h Bars are equal to 10 μm; b, c, i Bars are equal to 5 μm.</p

Meiotic pairing configuration of the allotriploid <i>P</i>. <i>alba</i> × <i>P</i>. <i>berolinensis</i> ‘Yinzhong’.

<p>Meiotic pairing configuration of the allotriploid <i>P</i>. <i>alba</i> × <i>P</i>. <i>berolinensis</i> ‘Yinzhong’.</p

Somatic chromosome counting (2n = 3x = 57) of <i>P</i>. <i>alba</i> × <i>P</i>. <i>berolinensis</i> ‘Yinzhong’.

<p>Arrows indicate the chromosome I. Bar is equal to 10 μm.</p

Precocious cytokinesis and nuclear fusion.

<p>a–d. Precocious cytokinesis in prophase II (a), metaphase II (b), anaphase II (c) and telophase II (d); e. Completion of successive cytokinesis showing formation of secondary cell plates between sister nuclei (arrows); f. Telophase II with precocious cytokinesis showing a fused nucleus in a daughter cell and separate nuclei by phragmoplast (arrow) in the other cell; g. Telophase II with precocious cytokinesis showing nuclear fusion in both daughter cells; h. Triad with a fused nucleus; i. Dyad with two fused nuclei. Bars are equal to 10 μm.</p

Pollen grains of <i>P</i>. <i>alba</i> ×<i>P</i>. <i>berolinensis</i> ‘Yinzhong’ and their germination.

<p>a. Pollen morphology of ‘Yinzhong’; b. Histogram of frequency distribution of pollen diameter; c. Pollen germination <i>in vitro</i>.</p