An outbreak of aseptic meningitis caused by coxsackievirus A9 in Gansu, the People's Republic of China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>An outbreak of aseptic meningitis occurred in Tianshui city of Gansu Province, the People's Republic of China, from March to June 2005. A total of 85 patients were clinical confirmed as aseptic meningitis in this outbreak.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CVA9 was mainly responsible for this outbreak supported by the clinical manifestations of the patients, epidemiological data of the outbreak, the results of RT-PCR and complete VP1 sequence determination, conventional neutralization assays, IgM serological assays, viral isolation and phylogenetics analysis. Through phylogenetic analysis and homogeneity analysis for partial VP1 gene, the nucleotide and amino acid homologies between Gansu isolates and former Chinese CVA9 strains were 88.2%-96.1% and 97.2%-99.2%, respectively. Multiple transmission chains of CVA9 occurred in different provinces or years in China. Moreover, in order to clarify the genotype of CVA9, Gansu CVA9 strains isolated in this outbreak were compared with other CVA9 isolates based on VP1/2A junction regions (genotyping region) and they might belong to a new genotype of CVA9, which could be assigned for genotype XIII,</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CVA9 was confirmed as the pathogen responsible for this outbreak. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that the CVA9 strains isolated in this outbreak might belong to a new genotype.</p

Branching fractions, polarisation and asymmetries of B -> VV decays

We calculate the hard-scattering kernels relevant to the negative-helicity decay amplitude in B decays to two vector mesons in the framework of QCD factorisation. We then perform a comprehensive analysis of the 34 B->VV decays, including B_s decays and the complete set of polarisation observables. We find considerable uncertainties from weak annihilation and the non-factorisation of spectator-scattering. Large longitudinal polarisation is expected with certainty only for a few tree-dominated colour-allowed modes, which receive small penguin and spectator-scattering contributions. This allows for an accurate determination of the CKM angle alpha (or gamma) from S_L(rhorho) resulting in alpha=(85.6^{+7.4}_{-7.3}) degrees. We also emphasize that the rho K* system is ideal for an investigation of electroweak penguin effects.Comment: 39 pages, v2: matches published versio

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF21) protects mouse liver against D-galactose-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis via activating Nrf2 and PI3K/Akt pathways

FGF21 is recently discovered with pleiotropic effects on glucose and lipid metabolism. However, the potential protective effect of FGF21 against D-gal-induced injury in the liver has not been demonstrated. The aim of this study is to investigate the pathophysiological role of FGF21 on hepatic oxidative injury and apoptosis in mice induced by D-gal. The 3-month-old Kunming mice were subcutaneously injected with D-gal (180 mg kg(-1) d(1)) for 8 weeks and administered simultaneously with FGF21 (5 or 1 mg kg(-1) d(1)). Our results showed that the administration of FGF21 significantly alleviated histological lesion including structure damage, degeneration, and necrosis of hepatocytes induced by D-gal, and attenuated the elevation of liver injury markers, serum AST, and ALP in a dosedependent manner. FGF21 treatment also suppressed D-galinduced profound elevation of ROS production and oxidative stress, as evidenced by an increase of the MDA level and depletion of the intracellular GSH level in the liver, and restored the activities of antioxidant enzymes SOD, CAT, GSH-Px, and T-AOC. Moreover, FGF21 treatment increased the nuclear abundance of Nrf2 and subsequent up regulation of several antioxidant genes. Furthermore, a TUNEL assay showed that D-gal-induced apoptosis in the mouse liver was significantly inhibited by FGF21. The expression of caspase-3 was markedly inhibited by the treatment of FGF21 in the liver of D-gal-treated mice. The levels of PI3K and PBK/Akt were also largely enhanced, which in turn inactivated pro-apoptotic signaling events, restoring the balance between pro-and anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and Bax proteins in the liver of D-gal-treated mice. In conclusion, these results suggest that FGF21 protects the mouse liver against D-gal-induced hepatocyte oxidative stress via enhancing Nrf2-mediated antioxidant capacity and apoptosis via activating PI3K/Akt pathway

Fibroblast Growth Factor–21 ameliorates hepatic encephalopathy by activating the STAT3-SOCS3 pathway to inhibit activated hepatic stellate cells

Neurological dysfunction, one of the consequences of acute liver failure (ALF), and also referred to as hepatic encephalopathy (HE), contributes to mortality posing challenges for clinical management. FGF21 has been implicated in the inhibition of cognitive decline and fibrogenesis. However, the effects of FGF21 on the clinical and molecular presentations of HE has not been elucidated. HE was induced by fulminant hepatic failure using thioacetamide (TAA) in male C57BL/6J mice while controls were injected with saline. For two consecutive weeks, mice were treated intraperitoneally with FGF21 (3 mg/kg) while controls were treated with saline. Cognitive, neurological, and activity function scores were recorded. Serum, liver, and brain samples were taken for analysis of CCL5 and GABA by ELISA, and RT qPCR was used to measure the expressions of fibrotic and pro-inflammatory markers. We report significant improvement in both cognitive and neurological scores by FGF21 treatment after impairment by TAA. GABA and CCL5, key factors in the progression of HE were also significantly reduced in the treatment group. Furthermore, the expression of fibrotic markers such as TGFβ and Col1 were also significantly downregulated after FGF21 treatment. TNFα and IL-6 were significantly reduced in the liver while in the brain, TNFα and IL-1 were downregulated. However, both in the liver and the brain, IL-10 was significantly upregulated. FGF21 inhibits CXCR4/CCL5 activation and upregulates the production of IL-10 in the damaged liver stimulating the production pro-inflammatory cytokines and apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells through the STAT3-SOCS3 pathway terminating the underlying fibrosis in HE

Recombinant Newcastle disease virus (NDV/Anh-IL-2) expressing human IL-2 as a potential candidate for suppresses growth of hepatoma therapy

AbstractNewcastle disease virus (NDV) have shown oncolytic therapeutic efficacy in preclinical study and are currently approved for clinical trials. NDV Anhinga strain which is a mesogenic strain should be classified as lytic strain and has a therapeutic efficacy in hepatocellular cancer. In this study, we evaluated the capacity of NDV Anhinga strain to elicit immune reaction in vivo and the possibility for using as a vaccine vector for expressing tumor therapeutic factors. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) could boost the immune response against the tumor cells. Therefore, we use NDV Anhinga strain as backbone to construct a recombinant virus (NDV/Anh-IL-2) expressing IL-2. The virus growth curve showed that the production of recombinant NDV/Anh-IL-2 was slightly delayed compared to the wild type. The NDV/Anh-IL-2 strain could express soluble IL-2 and effectively inhibit the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma in vivo. 60 days post-treatment, mice which were completely cured by previous treatment were well protected when rechallenged with the same tumor cell. From the H&E-stained sections, intense infiltration of lymphocyte was observed in the NDV Anhinga strain treated group, especially in NDV/Anh-IL-2 group. The NDV Anhinga strain could not only kill the tumor directly, but could also elicit immune reaction and a potent immunological memory when killing tumor in vivo. In conclusion, the Anhinga strain could be an effective vector for tumor therapy; the recombinant NDV/Anh-IL-2 strain expressing soluble IL-2 is a promising candidate for hepatoma therapy