Submarine groundwater discharge in Dongshan Bay, China: A master regulator of nutrients in spring and potential national significance of small bays

Despite over 90% of China’s coastal bays have an area less than 500 km2, the geochemical effects of SGD on those ecosystems are ambiguous. Based on mapping and time-series observations of Ra isotopes and nutrients, a case study of small bays (<500 km2), we revealed that submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) predominately regulated the distribution of nutrients and fueled algal growth in Dongshan Bay, China. On the bay-wide scale, the SGD rate was estimated to be 0.048 ± 0.022 m day−1 and contributed over 95% of the nutrients. At the time-series site where the bay-wide highest Ra activities in the bottom water marked an SGD hotspot with an average rate an order of magnitude greater, the maximum chlorophyll concentration co-occurred, suggesting that SGD may support the algal bloom. The ever-most significant positive correlations between 228Ra and nutrients throughout the water column (P< 0.01, R2 > 0.90 except for soluble reactive phosphorus in the surface) suggested the predominance of SGD in controlling nutrient distribution in the bay. Extrapolated to a national scale, the SGD-carried dissolved inorganic nitrogen flux in small bays was twice as much as those in large bays (>2,000 km2). Thus, the SGD-carried nutrients in small bays merit immediate attention in environmental monitoring and management

The temperature, salinity and radium activities of the northern South China Sea shelf from 28 July–21 August 2012

A cruise was conducted from 28 July to 21 August 2012 in the northern South China Sea. 31 hydrochemical stations were investigated and 61 samples were collected totally. The salinity and temperature were measured by a temperature and salinity analyzer. Short-lived radium isotopes were measured by a Radium Delayed Coincidence Counter and long-lived radium isotopes were measured by a Canberra germanium well-type gamma detector. The study was to investigate the submarine groundwater discharge flux on the northern South China Sea. In the same cruise, 9 transects were investigated. The temperature and salinity were measured by a Seabird SBE 911 or 917 conductivity-temperature-depth recorder. The temperature and salinity were used to analyze the hydrological characteristics in the northern South China Sea

Adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis among men who have sex with men: A prospective cohort study

Objective: To evaluate adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in a clinical trial of a population of men who have sex with men (MSM), to explore the influence of social psychology and objective factors (e.g., forgetting, too busy) on adherence, and to provide evidence for subsequent PrEP research. Methods: This study analyzed the data from the daily medication group within a PrEP study (a randomized placebo-controlled trial of oral tenofovir among MSM in Western China from April 2013 to March 2015). A total of 331 participants were analyzed. PrEP adherence was self-reported by the subjects at every 3-month follow-up visit for 24 months. AIDS-related information including HIV prevention, transmission, and treatment knowledge, as well as PrEP-related motivation (including personal and social motivation) and behavior skills, i.e., self-efficacy, were collected using questionnaires. The objective reasons for non-adherence were collected during face-to-face follow-up visits every 3 months. A theoretical model of information motivation behavior skills (IMB) was constructed. Then confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test the fit of each IMB construct. Finally, the structure equation model was used to evaluate the IMB model. Results: The median adherence rate was 64.29%. During the follow-up period, the percentage of high adherence (adherence ≥80%) was 32.33%, intermediate adherence (adherence 40–80%) was 38.97%, and low adherence (adherence ≤40%) was 28.70%. The final IMB model showed that there was no significant correlation between adherence to PrEP and the psychological constructs: information, motivation, and behavior skills. The main objective reasons for non-adherence were ‘forgetting to take medicine’ (70.21%), ‘too busy’ (29.08%), ‘worrying about side effects’ (28.01%), and ‘too much trouble’ (18.44%). Conclusions: This study found no association between PrEP adherence and social psychological factors, and the main objective factor in non-adherence was forgetting to take the medicine. In the future, the MSM population could be reminded to take their medicine regularly using electronic devices, which may improve PrEP adherence to some extent and may further reduce the incidence of HIV. The strategy to improve PrEP adherence requires further study. Keywords: Pre-exposure prophylaxis, Men who have sex with men, Medication compliance, Information motivation behavior skills model, Structure equation mode

Chemotherapy-Induced Neoantigen Nanovaccines Enhance Checkpoint Blockade Cancer Immunotherapy

Chemotherapeutics have the potential to increase the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies by stimulating the production of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and eliciting mutations that result in the production of neoantigens, thereby increasing the immunogenicity of cancerous lesions. However, the dose-limiting toxicity and limited immunogenicity of chemotherapeutics are not sufficient to induce a robust antitumor response. We hypothesized that cancer cells treated with ultrahigh doses of various chemotherapeutics artificially increased the abundance, variety, and specificity of DAMPs and neoantigens, thereby improving chemoimmunotherapy. The chemotherapy-induced (IVCI) nanovaccines manufactured from cell lysates comprised multiple neoantigens and DAMPs, thereby exhibiting comprehensive antigenicity and adjuvanticity. Our IVCI nanovaccines exhibited enhanced immune responses in CT26 tumor-bearing mice, with a significant increase in CD4/CD8 T cells in tumors in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors. The concept of IVCI nanovaccines provides an idea for manufacturing and artificial enhancement of immunogenicity vaccines to improve chemoimmunotherapy

Fluorescence in situ hybridization is superior for monitoring Epstein Barr viral load in infectious mononucleosis patients

Abstract Background Epstein Barr virus (EBV) plays a causal role in some diseases, including infectious mononucleosis, lymphoproliferative diseases and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Detection of EBV infection has been shown to be a useful tool for diagnosing EBV-related diseases. In the present study, we compared the performance of molecular tests, including fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and EBV real-time PCR, to those of serological assays for the detection of EBV infection. Methods Thirty-eight patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM) were enrolled, of whom 31 were diagnosed with a mild type, and seven were diagnosed with IM with haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis and chronic active EBV infection. Twenty healthy controls were involved in the study. The atypical lymphocytes in peripheral blood were detected under a microscope and the percentage of positive cells was calculated. EBV DNA load in peripheral blood was detected using real-time PCR. The FISH assay was developed to detect the EBV genome from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Other diagnosis methods including the heterophil agglutination (HA) test and EBV-VCA-IgM test, to detect EBV were also compared. SPSS17.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results In all, 5–41% atypical lymphocytes were found among the PBMC in mild IM patients, whereas 8–51% atypical lymphocytes were found in IM patients with haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis and chronic active EBV infection patients. There was no significant difference in the ratios of atypical lymphoma between patients of the different types. We observed that 71.2% of mild IM patients and 85.7% of IM patients with haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis and chronic active EBV infection patients were positive for EBV-VCA-IgM. EBV-VCA-IgM was negative in all healthy control subjects. In addition, 67.1% of mild IM patients tested heterophile antibody positive, whereas 71.4% of IM patients with haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis and chronic active EBV infection tested positive. EBV DNA detected using real-time PCR was observed in 89.5% of these IM patients. The EBV genome was detected by the FISH assay in 97.4% of the IM patients. The EB viral loads detected by FISH and real-time PCR increased with the severity of IM. The EBV genome was detected in almost all the PBMC of IM with haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis and chronic active EBV infection patients. Conclusion Molecular tests, including FISH and EBV real-time PCR, are more sensitive than serological assays for the detection of EBV infection. The FISH assay detecting EBV copies in unfractionated whole blood is preferable and superior to plasma real-time PCR in its reflection of the absolute viral burden circulating in the patients

Chemotherapy-Induced Neoantigen Nanovaccines Enhance Checkpoint Blockade Cancer Immunotherapy

Chemotherapeutics have the potential to increase the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies by stimulating the production of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and eliciting mutations that result in the production of neoantigens, thereby increasing the immunogenicity of cancerous lesions. However, the dose-limiting toxicity and limited immunogenicity of chemotherapeutics are not sufficient to induce a robust antitumor response. We hypothesized that cancer cells in vitro treated with ultrahigh doses of various chemotherapeutics artificially increased the abundance, variety, and specificity of DAMPs and neoantigens, thereby improving chemoimmunotherapy. The in vitro chemotherapy-induced (IVCI) nanovaccines manufactured from cell lysates comprised multiple neoantigens and DAMPs, thereby exhibiting comprehensive antigenicity and adjuvanticity. Our IVCI nanovaccines exhibited enhanced immune responses in CT26 tumor-bearing mice, with a significant increase in CD4+/CD8+ T cells in tumors in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors. The concept of IVCI nanovaccines provides an idea for manufacturing and artificial enhancement of immunogenicity vaccines to improve chemoimmunotherapy