Clinical characteristics of the autumn-winter type scrub typhus cases in south of Shandong province, northern China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Before 1986, scrub typhus was only found endemic in southern China. Because human infections typically occur in the summer, it is called "summer type". During the autumn-winter period of 1986, a new type of scrub typhus was identified in Shandong and northern Jiangsu province of northern China. This newly recognized scrub typhus was subsequently reported in many areas of northern China and was then called "autumn-winter type". However, clinical characteristics of associated cases have not been reported.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>From 1995 to 2006, all suspected scrub typhus cases in five township hospitals of Feixian county, Shandong province were enrolled. Indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA) was used as confirmatory serodiagnosis test. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) connected with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and sequence analyses were used for genotyping of <it>O. tsutsugamushi </it>DNAs. Clinical symptoms and demography of confirmed cases were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 480 scrub typhus cases were confirmed. The cases occurred every year exclusively between September and December with a peak occurrence in October. The case numbers were relatively higher in 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2000 than in other years. 57.9% of cases were in the group aged 21–50. More cases occurred in male (56%) than in female (44%). The predominant occupational group of the cases was farmers (85.0%). Farm work was reported the primary exposure to infection in 67.7% of cases. Fever, rash, and eschar were observed in 100.0%, 90.4%, and 88.5% of cases, respectively. Eschars formed frequently on or around umbilicus, abdomen areas, and front and back of waist (34.1%) in both genders. Normal results were observed in 88.7% (WBC counts), 84.5% (PLT counts), and 89.7% (RBC counts) of cases, respectively. Observations from the five hospitals were compared and no significant differences were found.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The autumn-winter type scrub typhus in northern China occurred exclusively from September to December with a peak occurrence in October, which was different from the summer type in southern China. In comparison with the summer type, complications associated with autumn-winter type scrub typhus were less severe, and abnormalities of routine hematological parameters were less obvious.</p

Combination systemic therapies with immune checkpoint inhibitors in pancreatic cancer: overcoming resistance to single-agent checkpoint blockade

Abstract Immune checkpoint inhibitors have demonstrated broad single-agent antitumor activity and a favorable safety profile that render them attractive agents to combine with other systemic anticancer therapies. Pancreatic cancer has been fairly resistant to monotherapy blockade of programmed cell death protein 1 receptor, programmed death ligand 1, and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4. However, there is a growing body of preclinical evidence to support the rational combination of checkpoint inhibitors and various systemic therapies in pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, early clinical evidence has begun to support the feasibility and efficacy of checkpoint inhibitor-based combination therapy in advanced pancreatic cancer. Despite accumulating preclinical and clinical data, there remains several questions as to the optimal dosing and timing of administration of respective agents, toxicity of combination strategies, and mechanisms by which immune resistance to single-agent checkpoint blockade are overcome. Further development of biomarkers is also important in the advancement of combination systemic therapies incorporating checkpoint blockade in pancreatic cancer. Results from an impressive number of ongoing prospective clinical trials are eagerly anticipated and will seek to validate the viability of combination immuno-oncology strategies in pancreatic cancer

Supplementary Data 3 - Study sites: location, population wing length, monitoring method, tide

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Description of the dataset "Supplementary Data 3 - Study sites.csv" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The dataset - is used in the paper "Unexpected diversity in socially synchronized rhythms of shorebirds" Nature 2016 by M. Bulla et al - contains estimates of mean female and male wing length for each population of biparental shorebirds from a specific study site, plus the locations of the study site, whether the locations had tide, and whether the tide was used by the population for foraging, and how the incubation was monitored. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Questions can be directed to: Martin Bulla ([email protected]) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Values are separated by comma. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. scinam : scientific name of the species 2. sp : four letter abbreviation of the species's English name 3. study_site : name of the study site 4. site_abbreviation : four letter abbreviation of the study site 5. type : was the study site at the breeding ground (breeding) or not (wintering) 6. lat : latitude of the study site (decimal) 7. lon : longitude of the study site (decimal) 8. tidal_habitat : is the study site at primarily tidal habitat (y=yes, n=no) 9. tidal_used : if the study site is at primarily tidal habitat, do the birds use it for foraging (y=yes, n=no) 10. incubation_monitoring : method used to monitor incubation (for details see the paper's Extended Data Table 4) 11. sexing_method : identifies the method used to sex individuals to estimate the mean female and male wing length 12. pop_wing_f : mean female wing length for the population 13. f_wing_N : sample size used for the female mean estimate 14. pop_wing_m : mean male wing length for the population 15. m_wing_N : sample size used for the male mean estimate 16. data_source : is the mean wing estimate based on the primary data ("our primary data") or literature (citation)) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHEN USING THIS DATA, PLEASE CITE: Bulla et al (2016). Supplementary Data 3 - Study sites: location, population wing length, monitoring method, tide. figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1536260. Retrieved ADD DATETIME. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------