Epidemiological study of scarlet fever in Shenyang City, China

AimsTo depict the Spatiotemporal epidemiological characteristics of the incidence of scarlet fever in Shenyang, China, in 2018 so as to provide the scientific basis for effective strategies of scarlet control and prevention.Methods Excel 2010 was used to demonstrate the temporal distribution at the month level and ArcGIS10.3 was used to demonstrate the spatial distribution at the district/county level. Moran’s autocorrelation coefficient was used to examine the spatial autocorrelation and the Getis-Ord statistic was used to determine the hot-spot areas of scarlet fever.Results A total of 2,314 scarlet fever cases were reported in Shenyang in 2018 with an annual incidence of 31.24 per 100,000. The incidence among males was higher than that amongfemales (X2=95.013, P≤0.001). A vast majority of the cases (96.89%) were among children aged 3 to 11 years. The highest incidence was 625.34/100,000 in children aged 5–9 years. There are two seasonal peaks occurred in June (Summer-peak) and in December (Winter-peak) in 2018. The incidence of scarlet fever in urban areas was significantly higher than that in rural areas(X2=514.115, P≤0.001). The incidence of scarlet fever was randomly distributed in Shenyang. There are hot-spots areas located in seven districts.ConclusionUrban areas are the hot spots of scarlet fever and joint prevention and control measures between districts should be applied. Children in the kindergartens and the primary school students are the main population of scarlet fever and the time distribution of scarlet fever is highly consistent with their school and vacation time. It is suggested that measure for prevention and control of scarlet fever in kindergartens and primary schools is the key to control the epidemic of scarlet fever

A New Geochemical Method for Determining the Sources of Atmospheric Particles: A Case Study from Gannan, Northeast China

The geochemical characteristics of atmospheric deposition can help trace the origin and assess the impacts of pollutants. Northeast China has always been a region seriously affected by sandstorms. This study aims to explain the potential source of sandstorms in Gannan County, Heilongjiang Provence, by collecting dust and analyzing geochemistry in one year where there is no significant industrial or anthropogenic pollution. Input fluxes of deposition show that Zn and Mn were more prevalent (36.7 g·hm−2·a−1 and 77.93 g·hm−2·a−1, respectively) than other elements. The geochemical composition of atmospheric deposition samples from 17 collection points in Gannan County were determined with regard to 20 elements including nine heavy metals, two metalloids, three nonmetallic elements, a transition metal, and five other major elements. The discriminate function (DF) and chemical index of alteration (CIA) indices indicate that Gannan County (agricultural production area) and Harbin (densely inhabited district) have similar geochemical characteristics of dry deposition. The integration of Na/Al and Ca/Mg ratios with an air mass back-trajectories model shows effects from Russian dust sources (36.6%) and from the northwest desert of China (13.3%). The results will assist in developing strategies for reducing dry deposition pollution inputs to agricultural soils in the area and will effectively target policies to protect soils from long-term contaminant accumulation

The Optical Characterization and Distribution of Dissolved Organic Matter in Water Regimes of Qilian Mountains Watershed

The constituents and content of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the Qilian Mountain watershed were characterized with a spectroscopic technique, especially 3-DEEM fluorescence assisted by parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis. The level of DOM in the surrounding area of Qinghai lake (thereafter the lake in this article specifically refers to Qinghai Lake)was highest at 9.45 mg C·L−1 and about 3 times less (3.09 mg C·L−1) in a cropland aquatic regime (the lowest value). In general, DOM was freshly autochthonously generated by plankton and plant debris, microorganisms and diagenetic effects in the aquatic environment (FI > 1.8). Component 1 (humic acid-like) and 3 (fulvic acid-like) determined the humification degree of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM). The spatial variation of sulfate and nitrate in the surrounding water regime of the lake revealed that organic molecules were mainly influenced by bacterial mediation. Mineral disintegration was an important and necessary process for fluorescent fraction formation in the cropland water regime. Exceptionally, organic moiety in the unused land area was affected by anespecially aridclimate in addition to microbial metabolic experience. Salinity became the critical factor determining the distribution of DOM, and the total normalized fluorescent intensity and CDOM level were lower in low-salinity circumstances (0.2–0.5 g·L−1) with 32.06 QSU and 1.38 m−1 in the grassland area, and higher salinity (0.6~0.8 g·L−1) resulted in abnormally high fluorescence of 150.62 QSU and absorption of 7.83 m−1 in the cropland water regime. Climatic conditions and microbial reactivity controlled by salinity were found to induce the above results. Our findings demonstrated that autochthonous inputs regulated DOM dynamics in the Qilian Mountains watershed of high altitude

In Vivo Two-Photon Imaging of Axonal Dieback, Blood Flow, and Calcium Influx with Methylprednisolone Therapy after Spinal Cord Injury

Severe spinal cord injury (SCI) can cause neurological dysfunction and paralysis. However, the early dynamic changes of neurons and their surrounding environment after SCI are poorly understood. Although methylprednisolone (MP) is currently the standard therapeutic agent for treating SCI, its efficacy remains controversial. The purpose of this project was to investigate the early dynamic changes and MP's efficacy on axonal damage, blood flow, and calcium influx into axons in a mouse SCI model. YFP H-line and Thy1-GCaMP transgenic mice were used in this study. Two-photon microscopy was used for imaging of axonal dieback, blood flow, and calcium influx post-injury. We found that MP treatment attenuated progressive damage of axons, increased blood flow, and reduced calcium influx post-injury. Furthermore, microglia/macrophages accumulated in the lesion site after SCI and expressed the proinflammatory mediators iNOS, MCP-1 and IL-1β. MP treatment markedly inhibited the accumulation of microglia/macrophages and reduced the expression of the proinflammatory mediators. MP treatment also improved the recovery of behavioral function post-injury. These findings suggest that MP exerts a neuroprotective effect on SCI treatment by attenuating progressive damage of axons, increasing blood flow, reducing calcium influx, and inhibiting the accumulation of microglia/macrophages after SCI