Seroprevalence of

Toxoplasma gondii transmitted from blood donors to receiving patients has become a concern as numerous articles about the epidemiology of T. gondii infection in blood donors from different provinces have been published in China. This study aimed to evaluate the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in Chinese blood donors using a meta-analysis. A total of 40 eligible studies, published from 1986 to 2017 and covering 18 provinces and municipalities were included. Among a total of 49,784 Chinese blood donors, the overall IgG seroprevalence of T. gondii infection was 6.26% (95% CI: 4.62%–8.13%). The highest prevalence was in the Northeast of China and the lowest in Central China. The infection rate increased slowly over the years, but not significantly. A statistically significant correlation was found between the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection and the detection method and educational level (p  0.05). The prevalence of antibodies to T. gondii in Chinese blood donors was lower than in other countries, but the risk of transfusion-transmitted toxoplasmosis still exits. More concise methods are still needed to evaluate the possibility of transfusion-transmitted toxoplasmosis from blood donors

Prevalence of depressive symptoms among nurses in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND:Depression is one of the most common mental disorders, profoundly impacting an individual's performance and quality of life. Due to their unique working conditions, nursing is counted among the occupational groups at high risk for developing depression. Because of the shortage of nursing resources in China, Chinese nurses suffer from heavy daily workloads more than those in many other countries. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and analyse the potential risk factors of depressive symptoms in Chinese nurses. METHODS:A systematic literature search in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, the Chinese BioMedical Literature Database (CBM), the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and the Weipu and Wanfang databases up to Dec 31st, 2019 was performed regarding the prevalence of depressive symptoms in Chinese nurses. Eligibility assessment and data extraction were performed independently by 2 researchers, and meta-analysis was used to synthesize the data. Heterogeneity was evaluated using Cochran's Q test and quantified using the I2 statistic. To explore the potential source of heterogeneity, subgroup analyses were also performed. In addition, both funnel plot and Egger's tests were adopted to assess publication bias. RESULTS:A total of 102 studies published from 1996 to 2019 covering 22 provinces were included for further analysis. The total number of participants was 52,592, with a range of 46 to 7205 per study. The overall prevalence of depressive symptoms in Chinese nurses was 43.83% (95%CI: 40.26%-47.42%), and 31.12% (95%CI: 27.30%-35.07%) were classified as mild degrees of depressive symptoms. The prevalence of depressive symptoms may be significantly affected by region, province or municipality and department marital status. Moreover, an increasing trend in the prevalence of depressive symptoms was observed in recent years. CONCLUSION:The results presented a high prevalence of depressive symptoms among Chinese nurses, which suggests interventional programmes by health decision-makers to improving the mental state of nurses is needed urgently, especially in nurses with high risk factors for depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the nationwide investigation of depressive symptoms prevalence should be performed with a standard diagnostic tool, which may be more useful for policy makers and planners

Abnormal GRHL2 Methylation Confers Malignant Progression to Acute Leukemia

Purpose. Abnormal methylation of Grainyhead-like 2 (GRHL2) is associated with a substantial role in the malignant phenotype of tumor patients. Our present research is aimed at studying the abnormal expression of GRHL2 and the association of methylation in patients with acute leukemia and its relationship with prognosis. Materials and Methods. We used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) for detecting the aberrant expression level of GRHL2 in 60 patients with acute leukemia and 60 normal controls. We analyzed the significant correlation between the expression level of GRHL2 with clinicopathological features and patients’ prognosis in acute leukemia using the corresponding statistical methods. Secondly, we employed qRT-PCR and Western blotting to detect the mRNA and protein levels of GRHL2 in leukemia cell lines. Next, we used methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) technology for detecting the methylation of GRHL2 in clinical samples with acute leukemia and cell lines. Then we investigated the demethylating effect of arsenic trioxide and 5-azacitidine on the mRNA and protein expression levels of GRHL2 in cell lines of acute leukemia. Finally, we studied the effects of arsenide trioxide and 5-azacitidine on the proliferation of leukemia cells and the TGF-β signaling pathway. Results. We found a lower level of GRHL2 expression not only in acute leukemia patients but also in cell lines when compared with normal controls. At the same time, the expression level of GRHL2 in patients with acute leukemia was significantly correlated with leukocyte count, platelet count, and cytogenetic risk grouping. In addition, the lower GRHL2 expression group showed a significantly lower overall survival rate in acute leukemia patients than that of patients with a higher GRHL2 expression group. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that the expression of GRHL2 is an independent risk factor in acute leukemia patients. The methylation level of the GRHL2 promoter region in acute leukemia patients and cell lines was significantly higher than the normal control group, and we found the elevated mRNA and protein levels of GRHL2 in acute leukemia cell lines after the use of the demethylation drug arsenic trioxide and 5-azacitidine. At the same time, arsenide trioxide and 5-azacitidine are associated with the inhibition of cellular proliferation of acute leukemia cells and also promote the elevated expression of TGF-β signaling pathway-linked proteins, including TGF-β, Smad2, Smad3, and Smad4. Conclusion. Increased expression and methylation level of GRHL2 are closely associated with the prognosis and malignant phenotype of acute leukemia patients and play an irreplaceable role in the occurrence and development of patients with acute leukemia

Chronic fatigue syndrome patients have alterations in their oral microbiome composition and function.

Host-microbe interactions have been implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), but whether the oral microbiome is altered in CFS patients is unknown. We explored alterations of the oral microbiome in Chinese Han CFS patients using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and alterations in the functional potential of the oral microbiome using PICRUSt. We found that Shannon and Simpson diversity indices were not different in CFS patients compared to healthy controls, but the overall oral microbiome composition was different (MANOVA, p < 0.01). CFS patients had a higher relative abundance of Fusobacteria compared with healthy controls. Further, the genera Leptotrichia, Prevotella, and Fusobacterium were enriched and Haemophilus, Veillonella, and Porphyromonas were depleted in CFS patients compared to healthy controls. Functional analysis from inferred metagenomes showed that bacterial genera altered in CFS patients were primarily associated with amino acid and energy metabolism. Our findings demonstrate that the oral microbiome in CFS patients is different from healthy controls, and these differences lead to shifts in functional pathways with implications for CFS pathogenesis. These findings increase our understanding of the relationship between the oral microbiota and CFS, which will advance our understanding of CFS pathogenesis and may contribute to future improvements in treatment and diagnosis

First Identification of Human Adenovirus Subtype 21a in China With MinION and Illumina Sequencers

Human adenoviruses (HAdVs) have been demonstrated to cause a diversity of diseases among children and adults. The circulation of human adenovirus type 21 (HAdV21) has been mainly documented within closed environments in several countries. Nonetheless, respiratory infections or outbreaks due to HAdV21 have never been reported in China. MinION and Illumina platforms were employed to identify the potential pathogen from a throat swab. Discrepancies between MinION and Illumina sequencing were validated and corrected via polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Genomic characterization and recombinant event detection were then performed. Among the 35,466 high-quality MinION reads, a total of 5,999 reads (16.91%) could be aligned to HAdV21 reference genomes (genome sizes ≈35.3 kb), among which 20 had a length of &gt;30 kb. A genome sequence assembled from MinION reads was further classified as HAdV subtype 21a. Random downsampling revealed as few as 500 nanopore reads could cover ≥96.49% of current genome. Illumina sequencing displayed good consistency (pairwise nucleotide identity = 99.91%) with MinION sequencing but with 31 discrepancies that were further validated and confirmed by PCR coupled with Sanger sequencing. Restriction enzymes such as BamHI and KpnI were able to distinguish the present genome from HAdV21 prototype and HAdV21b. Phylogenetic analysis employing whole-genome sequences placed our genome with members only from subtype 21a. Common features among HAdV21a strains were identified, including polymorphisms discovered in penton and 100 kDa hexon assembly–associated proteins and a recombinant event in the E4 gene. Using MinION and Illumina sequencers, we identified the first HAdV21a strain from China, which could provide key genomic data for disease control and epidemiological investigations

Effects of Probiotics Supplementation on the Intestinal Metabolites, Muscle Fiber Properties, and Meat Quality of Sunit Lamb

The development of animal husbandry is closely related to the meat quality of small ruminants. Intestinal metabolites and the muscle fiber types of lambs are important factors that affect their meat quality, but few studies have examined the regulation of the "intestinal muscle axis" by probiotics. In this study, 12 Sunit lambs were divided into a control group (C) and a probiotics group (P). The gene expressions of the myosin heavy chain, metabolic enzyme activity, and short-chain fatty acids in the intestines were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and quantitative real-time PCR. The results showed that levels of propionic acid and butyric acid in the intestines of group P were significantly higher than in group C (p 24h, and shear force decreased significantly in group P. In conclusion, intestinal metabolites (SCFAs) altered the activity of oxidative-myofibril-metabolizing enzymes and the expression of myosin heavy-chain type IIA, reduced the meat shear values, and improved meat tenderness. This study provides a new basis for improving the production and meat quality of small ruminants

Additional file 1 of Epidemiological and etiological characteristics of mild hand, foot and mouth disease in children under 7 years old, Nanjing, China, 2010–2019

Additional file 1: Supplementary Table 1. Spatial cluster scan of mild hand, foot, and mouth disease cases aged < 7 years in Nanjing, China, 2010-2019. Supplementary Table 2. Enterovirus serotypes distribution for mild hand, foot, and mouth disease cases aged < 7 years in Nanjing, China, 2010-2019

Additional file 2 of Epidemiological and etiological characteristics of mild hand, foot and mouth disease in children under 7 years old, Nanjing, China, 2010–2019

Additional file 2: Supplementary results. Overview of epidemiological and etiological characteristics of mild hand, foot and mouth disease in children aged ≥ 7 years old, Nanjing, China, 2010‑2019