Syphilis in China: the great comeback

China is currently witnessing a major resurgence of syphilis from the elimination of the disease in the 1960s to 5.3 per 100,000 people incidence in 2000–2005. The reasons for the elimination and subsequent resurgence of syphilis in China lie at the heart of much public health debate, highlighting both the relationship between politics and public health, and the role of government in controlling disease. Were the Draconian measures to control syphilis during the early Mao years a price worth paying for the effective control? Is the recent resurgence of syphilis an inevitable consequence of economic development and greater freedom for the individual, which will ultimately lead to better health for the majority of the population? Could tougher control measures such as those of the early Mao years be re-introduced in the current social and economic climate in China? In this review, we briefly chart the history of the syphilis epidemic in China, its elimination in the 1960s, and its gradual resurgence in the past two decades. We explore the reasons for this resurgence, and we conclude with a discussion on the options for control

Salt-induced osmotic stress for lipid overproduction in batch culture of Chlorella vulgaris

Effect of NaCl-induced osmotic stress on lipid production was investigated in batch culture of Chlorella vulgaris. Based on the facts that NaCl stress improved lipid production but inhibited cells growth at the same times, the novel strategies of multiple osmotic stresses with different NaCl additions (2 g/L at 80 h, 4 g/L at 100 h, and 6 g/L at 120 h) were adopted for lipid overproduction. Results show that after 180 h cultivation, lipid yield reached 3.16 g/L and intracellular lipid content was 58.6%, increased by 21.1 and 22.9%, respectively, compared to the control. Further applying the strategies to 5 L fermentor, lipid yield of 3.81 g/L was achieved at 180 h, which was 30.1% higher than the control, suggesting application of osmotic stress to lipid overproduction as being feasible.Key words: NaCl-induced osmotic stress, heterotrophic cultivation, lipid, glucose, Chlorella vulgaris

Community-Based Intervention to Improve the Well-Being of Children Left Behind by Migrant Parents in Rural China

In rural China around 60 million left-behind children (LBC) experience prolonged separation from migrant worker parents. They are vulnerable to a range of psychosocial problems. The aim of this study was to determine whether a community-based intervention consisting of Children's Centres can improve psychosocial well-being and school performance of these children. The intervention was carried out in 20 villages, for children aged 7 to 15 years, irrespective of left-behind status. Nine hundred and twenty children, 438 LBC and 256 children living with parents (RC) attended the Centres. At follow-up after one year, there were improvements compared to baseline in total difficulties (measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) in children left behind by both parents (p = 0.009), children left behind by one parent (p = 0.008) and RC (p = 0.05). Postintervention school performance significantly improved in both categories of LBC (p < 0.001), but not RC (p = 0.07); social support score increased in both categories of LBC (p < 0.001) and RC (p = 0.01). Findings from interviews with key stakeholders were overwhelmingly positive about the impacts. With strong local leadership and community motivation, a low-cost intervention can improve children's psychosocial well-being in these settings. Allowing communities to adapt the model to their own situation fosters local ownership, commitment, with benefits for children, parents, carers, and communities

Phylogeographic analysis and genetic structure of an endemic sino-japanese disjunctive genus Diabelia (caprifoliaceae)

The Sino-Japanese Floristic Region (SJFR) is a key area for plant phylogeographical research, due to its very high species diversity and disjunct distributions of a large number of species and genera. At present, the root cause and temporal origin of the discontinuous distribution of many plants in the Sino-Japanese flora are still unclear. Diabelia (Caprifoliaceae; Linnaeoideae) is a genus endemic to Asia, mostly in Japan, but two recent discoveries in China raised questions over the role of the East China Sea (ECS) in these species' disjunctions. Chloroplast DNA sequence data were generated from 402 population samples for two regions (rpl32-trnL, and trnH-psbA) and 11 nuclear microsatellite loci were screened for 549 individuals. Haplotype, population-level structure, combined analyses of ecological niche modeling, and reconstruction of ancestral state in phylogenies were also performed. During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) period after the Tertiary, Diabelia was potentially widely distributed in southeastern China, the continental shelf of the East China Sea and Japan (excluding Hokkaido). After LGM, all populations in China have disappeared except those in Zhejiang which may represent a Glacial refuge. Populations of Diabelia in Japan have not experienced significant bottleneck effects, and populations have maintained a relatively stable state. The observed discontinuous distribution of Diabelia species between China and Japan are interpreted as the result of relatively ancient divergence. The phylogenetic tree of chloroplast fragments shows the characteristics of multi-origin evolution (except for D. sanguinea). STRUCTURE analysis of nuclear Simple Sequence Repeat (nSSR) showed that the plants of the Diabelia were divided into five gene pools: D. serrata, D. spathulata, D. sanguinea, D. ionostachya (D. spathulata var. spathulata-Korea), and populations of D. ionostachya var. ionostachya in Yamagata prefecture, northern Japan. Molecular evidence provides new insights of Diabelia into biogeography, a potential glacial refuge, and population-level genetic structure within species. In the process of species differentiation, ECS acts as a corridor for two-way migration of animals and plants between China and Japan during glacial maxima, providing the possibility of secondary contact for discontinuously distributed species between China and Japan, or as a filter (creating isolation) during glacial minima. The influence of the ECS in speciation and biogeography of Diabelia in the Tertiary remains unresolved in this study. Understanding origins, evolutionary histories, and speciation will provide a framework for the conservation and cultivation of Diabelia

Double valve replacement for acute spontaneous left chordal rupture secondary to chronic aortic incompetence

A 54 years old male with undiagnosed chronic calcific degenerative aortic valve incompetence presented with acute left anterior chordae tendinae rupture resulting in severe left heart failure and cardiogenic shock. He was successfully treated with emergency double valve replacement using mechanical valves. The pathogenesis of acute rupture of the anterior chordae tendinae, without any evidence of infective endocarditis or ischemic heart disease seems to have been attrition of the subvalvular mitral apparatus by the chronic regurgitant jet of aortic incompetence with chronic volume overload. We review the literature with specific focus on the occurrence of this unusual event

Direct observation of local K variation and its correlation to electronic inhomogeneity in (Ba1-xKx)Fe2As2 Pnictide

Local fluctuations in the distribution of dopant atoms are a suspected cause of nanoscale electronic disorder or phase separation observed within the pnictide superconductors. Atom probe tomography results present the first direct observations of dopant nano-clustering in a K-doped 122-phase pnictides. First-principles calculations suggest the coexistence of static magnetism and superconductivity on a lattice parameter length scale over a large range of doping concentrations. Collectively, our results provide evidence for a mixed scenario of phase coexistence and phase separation originating from variation of dopant atom experiments distroibutions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures and 1 table, accepted by Physical Review Letter 201

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics

Acupoint Autohemotherapy Attenuates DNCB-Induced Atopic Dermatitis and Activates Regulatory T Cells in BALB/c Mice

Shi-Hua Yan,1,2 Yong Chen,3 Zhi-Qian Huang,1 Wen-Xi Zhong,1 Xiao-Tian Wang,1 Yang-Can Tang,1 Xu-Yi Zhao,1 Yu-Shan Wu,1 Chun Zhou,4 Wei Zhu,5 Wei Xiao,1,6 Xuan Li,2 Dong-Shu Zhang1,2 1School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, The Tenth affiliated Hospital, Southern Medical University (Dongguan People’s Hospital), Dongguan, Guangdong, 523058, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, Guizhou, 563000, People’s Republic of China; 4School of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Shock and Microcirculation, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, People’s Republic of China; 5Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, 510440, People’s Republic of China; 6Key Laboratory of Glucolipid Metabolic Disorder, Ministry of Education, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Dong-Shu Zhang, School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected] Wei Xiao, Key Laboratory of Glucolipid Metabolic Disorder, Ministry of Education, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Acupoint autohemotherapy (A-AHT) has been proposed as an alternative and complementary treatment for atopic dermatitis (AD), yet the exact role of its blood component in terms of therapeutic efficacy and mechanism of action is still largely unknown.Methods: This study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacies and action mechanisms of intramuscular injections of autologous whole blood (AWB) and mouse immunoglobulin G (IgG) (autologous or heterologous) at acupoints on 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB)-induced AD mouse models. Serum levels of total immunoglobulin E (IgE), IgG, interleukin-10 (IL-10), and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) were measured, as well as mRNA expression levels of Forkhead box P3 (FoxP3), IL-10 and IFN-γ in dorsal skin lesions, and IL-10+, IFN-γ+ and FoxP3+CD4+T cells in murine spleen.Results: It showed that repeated acupoint injection of AWB, autologous total IgG (purified from autologous blood in AD mice) or heterologous total IgG (purified from healthy blood in normal mice) effectively reduced the severity of AD symptoms and decreased epidermal and dermal thickness as well as mast cells in skin lesions. Additionally, AWB acupoint injection was found to upregulate FoxP3+, IL-10+ and IFN-γ+ CD4+T cells in murine spleen, suppressing the production of IgE antibodies and increasing that of IgG antibodies in the serum. Furthermore, both AWB and autologous total IgG administrations significantly elevated FoxP3 expression, mRNA levels of IL-10 and IFN-γ in dorsal skin lesions. However, acupoint injection of heterologous total IgG had no effect on regulatory T (Treg) and Th1 cells modulation.Conclusion: These findings suggest that the therapeutic effects of A-AHT on AD are mediated by IgG-induced activation of Treg cells.Keywords: autologous whole blood, acupoint injection, atopic dermatitis, anti-idiotypic immunomodulation, Treg

Synthesis and Characterization of ZnO Nanorods and Nanodisks from Zinc Chloride Aqueous Solution

ZnO nanorods and nanodisks were synthesized by solution process using zinc chloride as starting material. The morphology of ZnO crystal changed greatly depending on the concentrations of Zn2+ion and ethylene glycohol (EG) additive in the solution. The effect of thermal treatment on the morphology was investigated. Photocatalytic activities of plate-like Zn5(OH)8Cl2 · H2O and rod-like ZnO were characterized. About 18% of 1 ppm NO could be continuously removed by ZnO particles under UV light irradiation