Herpes simplex virus infections among rural residents in eastern China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Herpes simplex virus (HSV) has two types: HSV-1 and HSV-2. Both infect epithelial cells and establish latent infections in neurons causing an infection that persists for life. Information on age- and gender-specific seroprevalence of HSV-1 and HSV-2 is valuable for understanding HSV transmission dynamics and designing population-based prevention and intervention programs for HSV. However, such information is not available for China.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cryopreserved serum samples of all subjects aged 5 to 60 years from two randomly selected rural villages in Zhejiang province in Eastern China who had participated in the China national seroepidemiological survey of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection conducted in 2006 were tested. Seroprevalence of HSV-1 and HSV-2 infections were determined by type-specific IgG antibody tests using an ELISA technique. Their 95% confidence intervals adjusted for the sampling fraction were calculated according to the Clopper-Pearson method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 2,141 residents participated in the survey, with a response rate of 82.3%. HSV-1 seroprevalence was 92.0% overall, 89.1% for males and 94.2% for females. HSV-1 seroprevalence was 61.6% among children aged 5-9 years, 90.3% among 25-29 years, and nearly 100% among those aged > = 40 years. HSV-2 seroprevalence was 13.2% overall, 10.5% for males and 15.3% for females. No children aged 5-14 years were HSV-2 positive, and HSV-2 seroprevalence was 7.1% among 15-19 years and peaked at 24.3% among those aged 45-49 years. Neither HSV-1 nor HSV-2 infections were significantly different by gender. About 11.8% of study subjects were co-infected with both types of HSV. Among 549 participating couples, 8.6% were HSV-1 serodiscordant and 11.8% were HSV-2 serodiscordant. No one tested positive for HIV. The overall prevalence of HBsAg was 16.2%, 16.9% for males and 15.4% for females.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>HSV-1 was highly prevalent among all rural residents aged between 5-60 years in Eastern China, whereas HSV-2 was prevalent among sexually active people. HSV-1 and HSV-2 have different transmission modes and dynamics. Future HSV prevention and control programs in China should be type specific.</p

Surgical Technique for Vascularized Thymus Transplantation in Mice

Traditionally, mouse nonvascularized thymus implants have been used to investigate various aspects of thymus function. However, these grafts are easily damaged by ischemia and fail to reproduce the normal anatomy of the thymus. In addition, the function of these grafts has not been fully examined. We have recently developed a vascularized thymus transplant model in mice. The donor operation consists of isolating the right lobe of the thymus and creating a single vascular pathway. In the recipient surgery, end-to-side anastomoses between donor brachycephalic artery and recipient right common carotid artery, and between donor superior caval vein and recipient right external jugular vein, were performed. We performed 10 consecutive isografts in BALB/c mice with a success rate of 90%. The thymus grafts had a normal histology and function. This study illustrates that it is technically possible to transplant a mouse vascular thymus graft. This model has several advantages that make it a useful tool to study many aspects of thymus function. We plan to use this model further to study the potential for induction of tolerance by thymus grafts

A novel doubly‐fed doubly‐salient machine with DC‐saturation‐relieving structure for wind power generation

Abstract This paper presents a novel doubly‐fed doubly‐salient machine (DF‐DSM) with DC‐saturation‐relieving effect for wind power generation application, which possesses the advantages of enhanced torque density, reduced torque ripple and improved power density. The key is that PMs are introduced into the stator slot openings to mitigate the saturation effect in stator core caused by DC field excitation, and relatively large excitation current can be fed into stator field windings, which contributes to improved power density of machine. In addition, with the armature winding artificially connected, the reluctance of all magnetic paths is kept the same, and the variation of self‐inductance is compensated, and the torque ripple is greatly suppressed. In this paper, the machine structure and DC‐saturation‐relieving working principle are introduced. The slot‐pole combinations are analysed, and dimension parameters are optimized. By using time‐stepping finite‐element analysis, the electromagnetic performance of optimal machine is evaluated which verifies the validity of the proposed design

Sustainable Strategies for the Agricultural Development of Shaanxi Province Based on the Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution

Heavy metal elements in farmland soil can be absorbed by crops and endanger food security. To assess the risk of heavy metal elements in farmland soil to crops in Shaanxi Province, we collected 693 soil samples and analyzed the concentrations of nine heavy metals (As, Hg, Pb, Cd, Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, and Ni). According to the National Standard (GB 15619-2018) of the People&rsquo;s Republic of China, the proportions of soil sample points in which the concentration of heavy metals was higher than the risk screening value were 2.02% (Cd), 0.29% (Cr), 0.29% (Zn), 2.31% (Cu), 1.15% (Ni), and 0.14% (Pb). The proportions of areas in which the concentration of heavy metal was higher than the background value were as follows, from largest to smallest: Zn (53.20%) &gt; Mn (49.86%) &gt; Cd (29.51%) &gt; Hg (26.77%) &gt; As (26.58%) &gt; Ni (14.95%) &gt; Cu (13.90%) &gt; Pb (6.49%) &gt; Cr (1.40%). The assessment of the risk of heavy metal exposure (geo-accumulation index (Igeo), pollution load index (PLI), and potential ecological risk index (RI)) determined that Hg was the most concerning heavy metal in the farmland soil of Shaanxi Province. Moreover, 11.56% of these areas had Hg contamination, and they were mainly distributed in the western Guanzhong region. The farmland soil in the Guanzhong region was the most contaminated, followed by the southern Shaanxi region and then the northern Shaanxi region. The main sources of heavy metal contamination causing large-scale farmland soil pollution are agricultural production activities, transportation, and air pollution caused by coal combustion in Shaanxi Province. Therefore, sustainable strategies for the prevention and control of heavy metal pollution and agricultural development must be applied in different regions. Heavy metal pollution should be managed, and relevant policies should be created and enforced, such as the standardization of the use of qualified pesticides and fertilizers, improved treatment of livestock and poultry manure, development of the clean energy industry structure, and promotion of renewable energy vehicles. In terms of the high-quality development of agriculture, developing modern and local agriculture in different regions should be based on local geographical, climatic, and economic conditions

Mesoporous titania hollow spheres applied as scattering layers in quantum dots sensitized solar cells

Quantum dots sensitized nanocrystalline TiO2 solar cells (QDSSCs) have attracted great attention for its promising prospects. In order to enhance the effective light absorption path length in the photoanode, a scattering layer is often applied on the back of the transparent absorption layer. Compared with conventional scattering layer films composed of 20 nm and 300 nm TiO2 nanocrystalline, submicrometer-size mesoporous TiO2 hollow spheres are of great interest due to its lower fabrication temperature and hierarchical pore structures. Here we present a novel solvothermal method to prepare mesoporous anatase TiO2 hollow spheres via a hydrophilic template/non-polar solvent interface reaction with carbon sphere as templates, which is easy to control the grain and pore size as well as the shell thickness of the hollow spheres. The TiO2 hollow spheres in average size of 320-330 nm have been applied as the scattering layer materials in CdSe QDSSCs grown by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction, and a power conversion efficiency of ca. 3.2% has been obtained. The efficiency is higher by 28% than that of the QDSSCs with the scattering layers composed of 20 nm and 300 nm TiO2 particles due to its much higher optical reflectance and longer electron lifetime resulted from its fast diffusion of the electrolyte and lower CdSe loading in the scattering layer. It is indicated that high QDs loading in the scattering layers can cause the downwards displacement of the TiO2 conduction band and lead to lower electron lifetime for the QDSSCs with alkali polysulfide as electrolyte, which was different from the conventional dye-sensitized solar cells. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved