Trends in HIV prevalence and risk behaviours among men who have sex with men from 2013 to 2017 in Nanjing, China: a consecutive cross-sectional survey.

OBJECTIVE:To examine the trends of HIV prevalence, risk behaviours and HIV testing among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Nanjing. DESIGN:Five consecutive cross-sectional surveys. SETTING:Nanjing, China. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES:HIV and syphilis prevalence, HIV testing rate and factors associated with HIV infection; demographic characteristics and behaviours. RESULTS:649, 669, 577, 633, 503 MSM were recruited from 2013 to 2017. HIV prevalence was 9.9%, 12.3%, 12.5%, 9.8% and 10.1%, respectively. Syphilis prevalence decreased with a range from 10.6% to 5.6%. Risk behaviours like unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) and unprotected virginal sex in the past 6 months decreased, but multiple sex partners and ever used rush popper rose significantly. MSM tested for HIV in the previous year remained stable from 57.0% to 64.1% (P=0.633). Multivariate analysis showed that tested for HIV in the past year was protective factor against HIV infection. MSM who had UAI in the past 6 months, sex role as receptive and dual, diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the past year and currently syphilis infected were risk factors for HIV infection. CONCLUSIONS:We observed stable high HIV prevalence, a steady HIV testing rate, decreasing syphilis prevalence and UAI among MSM in Nanjing. However, rush popper use rose dramatically. The HIV preventive strategies for MSM including condom promotion, HIV testing expansion and reduction of rush popper use, STDs screening and standardised treatment should be strengthened

Illegal Intrusion Detection of Internet of Things Based on Deep Mining Algorithm

In this study, to reduce the influence of The Internet of Things (IoT) illegal intrusion on the transmission effect, and ensure IoT safe operation, an illegal intrusion detection method of the Internet of Things (IoT) based on deep mining algorithm was designed to accurately detect IoT illegal intrusion. Moreover, this study collected the data in the IoT through data packets and carries out data attribute mapping on the collected data, transformed the character information into numerical information, implemented standardization and normalization processing on the numerical information, and optimized the processed data by using a regional adaptive oversampling algorithm to obtain an IoT data training set. The IoT data training set was taken as the input data of the improved sparse auto-encoder neural network. The hierarchical greedy training strategy was used to extract the feature vector of the sparse IoT illegal intrusion data that were used as the inputs of the extreme learning machine classifier to realize the classification and detection of the IoT illegal intrusion features. The experimental results indicate that the feature extraction of the illegal intrusion data of the IoT can effectively reduce the feature dimension of the illegal intrusion data of the IoT to less than 30 and the dimension of the original data. The recall rate, precision, and F1 value of the IoT intrusion detection are 98.3%, 98.7%, and 98.6%, respectively, which can accurately detect IoT intrusion attacks. The conclusion demonstrates that the intrusion detection of IoT based on deep mining algorithm can achieve accurate detection of IoT illegal intrusion and reduce the influence of IoT illegal intrusion on the transmission effect

Ultrasensitive Measurement of Angular Rotations via Hermite-Gaussian Pointer

Exploring high sensitivity on the measurement of angular rotations is an outstanding challenge in optics and metrology. In this work, we employ the mn-order Hermite-Gaussian beam in the weak measurement scheme with an angular rotation interaction, where the rotation information is taken by another HG mode state completely after the post-selection. By taking a projective measurement on the final light beam, the precision of angular rotation is improved by a factor of 2mn+m+n. For verification, we perform an optical experiment where the minimum detectable angular rotation improves $\sqrt{15}$-fold with HG55 mode over that of HG11 mode, and achieves a sub-microradian scale of the measurement precision. Our theoretical framework and experimental results not only provide a more practical and convenient scheme for ultrasensitive measurement of angular rotations, but also contribute to a wide range of applications in quantum metrology.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables. Published in Photonics Researc

Hypoxia-inducible transcription factor-1α promotes hypoxia-induced A549 apoptosis via a mechanism that involves the glycolysis pathway

BACKGROUND: Hypoxia-inducible transcription factor-1α (HIF-1α), which plays an important role in controlling the hypoxia-induced glycolysis pathway, is a "master" gene in the tissue hypoxia response during tumor development. However, its role in the apoptosis of non-small cell lung cancer remains unknown. Here, we have studied the effects of HIF-1α on apoptosis by modulating HIF-1α gene expression in A549 cells through both siRNA knock-down and over-expression. METHODS: A549 cells were transfected with a HIF-1α siRNA plasmid or a HIF-1α expression vector. Transfected cells were exposed to a normoxic or hypoxic environment in the presence or absence of 25 mM HEPES and 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) (5 mM). The expression of three key genes of the glycolysis pathway, glucose transporter type 1(GLUT1), phosphoglycerate kinase 1(PGK1), and hexokinase 1(HK1), were measured using real-time RT-PCR. Glycolysis was monitored by measuring changes of pH and lactate concentration in the culture medium. Apoptosis was detected by TUNEL assay and flow cytometry. RESULTS: Knocking down expression of HIF-1α inhibited the glycolysis pathway, increased the pH of the culture medium, and protected the cells from hypoxia-induced apoptosis. In contrast, over-expression of HIF-1α accelerated glycolysis in A549 cells, decreased the pH of the culture medium, and enhanced hypoxia-induced apoptosis. These effects of HIF-1α on glycolysis, pH of the medium, and apoptosis were reversed by treatment with the glycolytic inhibitor, 2-DG. Apoptosis induced by HIF-1α over-expression was partially inhibited by increasing the buffering capacity of the culture medium by adding HEPES. CONCLUSION: During hypoxia in A549 cells, HIF-1α promotes activity of the glycolysis pathway and decreases the pH of the culture medium, resulting in increased cellular apoptosis

WebBrain: Learning to Generate Factually Correct Articles for Queries by Grounding on Large Web Corpus

In this paper, we introduce a new NLP task -- generating short factual articles with references for queries by mining supporting evidence from the Web. In this task, called WebBrain, the ultimate goal is to generate a fluent, informative, and factually-correct short article (e.g., a Wikipedia article) for a factual query unseen in Wikipedia. To enable experiments on WebBrain, we construct a large-scale dataset WebBrain-Raw by extracting English Wikipedia articles and their crawlable Wikipedia references. WebBrain-Raw is ten times larger than the previous biggest peer dataset, which can greatly benefit the research community. From WebBrain-Raw, we construct two task-specific datasets: WebBrain-R and WebBrain-G, which are used to train in-domain retriever and generator, respectively. Besides, we empirically analyze the performances of the current state-of-the-art NLP techniques on WebBrain and introduce a new framework ReGen, which enhances the generation factualness by improved evidence retrieval and task-specific pre-training for generation. Experiment results show that ReGen outperforms all baselines in both automatic and human evaluations.Comment: Codes in https://github.com/qhjqhj00/WebBrai

Systematic Identification of Synergistic Drug Pairs Targeting HIV

The systematic identification of effective drug combinations has been hindered by the unavailability of methods that can explore the large combinatorial search space of drug interactions. Here we present a multiplex screening method named MuSIC (Multiplex Screening for Interacting Compounds), which expedites the comprehensive assessment of pair-wise compound interactions. We examined ~500,000 drug pairs from 1000 FDA-approved or clinically tested drugs and identified drugs that synergize to inhibit HIV replication. Our analysis reveals an enrichment of anti-inflammatory drugs in drug combinations that synergize against HIV, indicating HIV benefits from inflammation that accompanies its infection. Multiple drug pairs identified in this study, including glucocorticoid and nitazoxanide, synergize by targeting different steps of the HIV life cycle. As inflammation accompanies HIV infection, our findings indicate that inhibiting inflammation could curb HIV propagation. MuSIC can be applied to a wide variety of disease-relevant screens to facilitate efficient identification of compound combinations

MeJA regulates the accumulation of baicalein and other 4’-hydroxyflavones during the hollowed root development in Scutellaria baicalensis

The dried roots of Scutellaria baicalensis are important traditional Chinese medicine used to treat liver and lung inflammation. An anomalous structure, hollowed root, was discovered in perennial cultivated Scutellaria baicalensis. The presence of the hollow may change the contents of bioactive metabolites, such as baicalein, and other 4’-hydroxyflavones in Scutellaria baicalensis roots, but the relationship between the hollowed root and bioactive metabolite contents is poorly understood. In this study, we identified the anatomical structure of the hollowed root and detected differentially accumulating flavonoid metabolites and enzymes related to 4’-hydroxyflavone biosynthesis in 3-year-old roots with a hollow. We confirmed that methyl jasmonate (MeJA) induced the accumulation of 4’-hydroxyflavones and the expression of enzymes related to 4’-hydroxyflavone biosynthesis in hydroponically cultured Scutellaria baicalensis roots. The development of the hollowed root were divided into 4 stages. The 4’-hydroxyflavone contents and expression of enzymes related to 4’-hydroxyflavone biosynthesis increased synchronously with the content of MeJA during the development of hollowed root. Pathogen and programed-cell-death related genes were induced during hollowed root development. Taken together, our results provide novel insight into the importance of MeJA in the development of hollowed root and the accumulation of 4’-hydroxyflavones in Scutellaria baicalensis roots. Our results suggest that a pathogen and senescence are the two major causes for the development of hollowed root in Scutellaria baicalensis roots

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses in Chinese infected with HIV-1 B'/C Recombinant (CRF07_BC)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The characterization of HIV-1-specific T cell responses in people infected with locally circulating HIV-1 strain will facilitate the development of HIV-1 vaccine. Sixty intravenous drug users infected with HIV-1 circulating recombinant form 07_BC (CRF07_BC), which has been spreading rapidly in western China from north to south, were recruited from Xinjiang, China to assess the HIV-1-specific T cell responses at single peptide level with overlapping peptides (OLP) covering the whole concensus clades B and C proteome.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The median of the total magnitude and total number of OLPs recognized by CTL responses were 10925 SFC/million PBMC and 25 OLPs, respectively, when tested by clade C peptides, which was significantly higher than when tested by clade B peptides. The immunodominant regions, which cover 14% (58/413) of the HIV-1 proteome, are widely distributed throughout the HIV-1 proteome except in Tat, Vpu and Pol-PR, with Gag, Pol-RT, Pol-Int and Nef being most frequently targeted. The subdominant epitopes are mostly located in p24, Nef, integrase, Vpr and Vif. Of the responses directed to clade C OLPs, 61.75% (972/1574) can be observed when tested with corresponding clade B OLPs. However, Pol-PR and Vpu tend to be targeted in the clade B sequence rather than the clade C sequence, which is in line with the recombinant pattern of CRF07_BC. Stronger and broader CTL responses in subjects with CD4 cell counts ranging from 200 to 400/mm³were observed when compared to those with less than 200/mm³or more than 400/mm³, though there have been no significant correlations identified between the accumulative CTL responses or overall breadth and CD4 cell count or plasma viral load.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first study conducted to comprehensively address T cell responses in Chinese subjects infected with HIV-1 CRF07_BC in which subtle differences in cross-reactivity were observed, though similar patterns of overall immune responses were demonstrated with clade B infected populations. The immunodominant regions identified in this population can facilitate future HIV-1 vaccine development in China.</p

Accuracy of detecting residual disease after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (preSINO trial): A prospective multicenter diagnostic cohort study

Background: After neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) for esophageal cancer, high pathologically complete response (pCR) rates are being achieved especially in patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). An active surveillance strategy has been proposed for SCC patients with clinically complete response (cCR) after nCRT. To justify omitting surgical resection, patients with residual disease should be accurately identified. The aim of this study is to assess the accuracy of response evaluations after nCRT based on the preSANO trial, including positron emission tomography with computed tomography (PET-CT), endoscopy with bite-on-bite biopsies and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) with fine-needle aspiration (FNA) in patients with potentially curable esophageal SCC. Methods: Operable esophageal SCC patients who are planned to undergo nCRT according to the CROSS regimen and are planned to undergo surgery will be recruited from four Asian centers. Four to 6 weeks after completion of nCRT, patients will undergo a first clinical response evaluation (CRE-1) consisting of endoscopy with bite-on-bite biopsies. In patients without histological evidence of residual tumor (i.e. without positive biopsies), surgery will be postponed another 6 weeks. A second clinical response evaluation (CRE-2) will be performed 10-12 weeks after completion of nCRT, consisting of PET-CT, endoscopy with bite-on-bite biopsies and EUS with FNA. Immediately after CRE-2 all patients without evidence of distant metastases will undergo esophagectomy. Results of CRE-1 and CRE-2 as well as results of the three single diagnostic modalities will be correlated to pathological response in the resection specimen (gold standard) for calculation of sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value and positive predictive value. Discussion: If the current study shows that major locoregional residual disease (> 10% residual carcinoma or any residual nodal disease) can be accurately (i.e. with sensitivity of 80.5%) detected in patients with esophageal SCC, a prospective trial will be conducted comparing active surveillance with standard esophagectomy in patients with a clinically complete response after nCRT (SINO trial). Trial registration: The preSINO trial has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT03937362 (May 3, 2019)