Occurrence and Exposure Assessment of Lipophilic Shellfish Toxins in the Zhejiang Province, China.

Although lipophilic shellfish toxins (LSTs) pose a significant threat to the health of seafood consumers, their systematic investigation and risk assessment remain scarce. The goals of this study were as follows: (1) analyze LST levels in commercially available shellfish in Zhejiang province, China, and determine factors influencing LST distribution; (2) assess the acute dietary risk of exposure to LSTs for local consumers during the red tide period; (3) explore potential health risks of LSTs in humans; and (4) study the acute risks of simultaneous dietary exposure to LSTs and paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs). A total of 546 shellfish samples were collected. LSTs were detected in 89 samples (16.3%) at concentrations below the regulatory limits. Mussels were the main shellfish species contaminated with LSTs. Spatial variations were observed in the yessotoxin group. Acute exposure to LSTs based on multiple scenarios was low. The minimum tolerable exposure durations for LSTs calculated using the mean and the 95th percentile of consumption data were 19.7 and 4.9 years, respectively. Our findings showed that Zhejiang province residents are at a low risk of combined exposure to LSTs and PSTs; however, the risk may be higher for children under 6 years of age in the extreme scenario.

Lowis3D: Language-Driven Open-World Instance-Level 3D Scene Understanding.

Open-world instance-level scene understanding aims to locate and recognize unseen object categories that are not present in the annotated dataset. This task is challenging because the model needs to both localize novel 3D objects and infer their semantic categories. A key factor for the recent progress in 2D open-world perception is the availability of large-scale image-text pairs from the Internet, which cover a wide range of vocabulary concepts. However, this success is hard to replicate in 3D scenarios due to the scarcity of 3D-text pairs. To address this challenge, we propose to harness pre-trained vision-language (VL) foundation models that encode extensive knowledge from image-text pairs to generate captions for multi-view images of 3D scenes. This allows us to establish explicit associations between 3D shapes and semantic-rich captions. Moreover, to enhance the fine-grained visual-semantic representation learning from captions for object-level categorization, we design hierarchical point-caption association methods to learn semantic-aware embeddings that exploit the 3D geometry between 3D points and multi-view images. In addition, to tackle the localization challenge for novel classes in the open-world setting, we develop debiased instance localization, which involves training object grouping modules on unlabeled data using instance-level pseudo supervision. This significantly improves the generalization capabilities of instance grouping and, thus, the ability to accurately locate novel objects. We conduct extensive experiments on 3D semantic, instance, and panoptic segmentation tasks, covering indoor and outdoor scenes across three datasets. Our method outperforms baseline methods by a significant margin in semantic segmentation (e.g., 34.5%∼65.3%), instance segmentation (e.g., 21.8%∼54.0%), and panoptic segmentation (e.g., 14.7%∼43.3%). Code will be available.

Diffusion-based deep learning method for augmenting ultrastructural imaging and volume electron microscopy.

Electron microscopy (EM) revolutionized the way to visualize cellular ultrastructure. Volume EM (vEM) has further broadened its three-dimensional nanoscale imaging capacity. However, intrinsic trade-offs between imaging speed and quality of EM restrict the attainable imaging area and volume. Isotropic imaging with vEM for large biological volumes remains unachievable. Here, we developed EMDiffuse, a suite of algorithms designed to enhance EM and vEM capabilities, leveraging the cutting-edge image generation diffusion model. EMDiffuse generates realistic predictions with high resolution ultrastructural details and exhibits robust transferability by taking only one pair of images of 3 megapixels to fine-tune in denoising and super-resolution tasks. EMDiffuse also demonstrated proficiency in the isotropic vEM reconstruction task, generating isotropic volume even in the absence of isotropic training data. We demonstrated the robustness of EMDiffuse by generating isotropic volumes from seven public datasets obtained from different vEM techniques and instruments. The generated isotropic volume enables accurate three-dimensional nanoscale ultrastructure analysis. EMDiffuse also features self-assessment functionalities on predictions' reliability. We envision EMDiffuse to pave the way for investigations of the intricate subcellular nanoscale ultrastructure within large volumes of biological systems.

Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, fetal thyroid function, and intelligence quotient at 7 years of age: Findings from the Sheyang Mini Birth Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) influences neurodevelopment. Thyroid homeostasis disruption is thought to be a possible underlying mechanism. However, current epidemiological evidence remains inconclusive. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore the effects of prenatal PFAS exposure on the intelligence quotient (IQ) of school-aged children and assess the potential mediating role of fetal thyroid function. METHODS: The study included 327 7-year-old children from the Sheyang Mini Birth Cohort Study (SMBCS). Cord serum samples were analyzed for 12 PFAS concentrations and 5 thyroid hormone (TH) levels. IQ was assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Chinese Revised (WISC-CR). Generalized linear models (GLM) and Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) were used to evaluate the individual and combined effects of prenatal PFAS exposure on IQ. Additionally, the impact on fetal thyroid function was examined using a GLM, and a mediation analysis was conducted to explore the potential mediating roles of this function. RESULTS: The molar sum concentration of perfluorinated carboxylic acids (ΣPFCA) in cord serum was significantly negatively associated with the performance IQ (PIQ) of 7-year-old children (ß = -6.21, 95 % confidence interval [CI]: -12.21, -0.21), with more pronounced associations observed among girls (ß = -9.57, 95 % CI: -18.33, -0.81) than in boys. Negative, albeit non-significant, cumulative effects were noted when considering PFAS mixture exposure. Prenatal exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorononanoic acid, and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid was positively associated with the total thyroxine/triiodothyronine ratio. However, no evidence supported the mediating role of thyroid function in the link between PFAS exposure and IQ. CONCLUSIONS: Increased prenatal exposure to PFASs negatively affected the IQ of school-aged children, whereas fetal thyroid function did not serve as a mediator in this relationship.

Object-centric Representation Learning for Video Scene Understanding.

Depth-aware Video Panoptic Segmentation (DVPS) is a challenging task that requires predicting the semantic class and 3D depth of each pixel in a video, while also segmenting and consistently tracking objects across frames. Predominant methodologies treat this as a multi-task learning problem, tackling each constituent task independently, thus restricting their capacity to leverage interrelationships amongst tasks and requiring parameter tuning for each task. To surmount these constraints, we present Slot-IVPS, a new approach employing an object-centric model to acquire unified object representations, thereby facilitating the model's ability to simultaneously capture semantic and depth information. Specifically, we introduce a novel representation, Integrated Panoptic Slots (IPS), to capture both semantic and depth information for all panoptic objects within a video, encompassing background semantics and foreground instances. Subsequently, we propose an integrated feature generator and enhancer to extract depth-aware features, alongside the Integrated Video Panoptic Retriever (IVPR), which iteratively retrieves spatial-temporal coherent object features and encodes them into IPS. The resulting IPS can be effortlessly decoded into an array of video outputs, including depth maps, classifications, masks, and object instance IDs. We undertake comprehensive analyses across four datasets, attaining state-of-the-art performance in both Depth-aware Video Panoptic Segmentation and Video Panoptic Segmentation tasks. Codes will be available at https://github.com/SAITPublic/.

Associations of cord serum polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) mixture with birth outcomes and mediating role of thyroid function: Evidence from the Sheyang Mini Birth Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a series of worldwide applied flame retardants, may influence fetal growth and interfere with thyroid function. The study intended to explore the relationship between in-utero exposure to PBDE mixture and newborn anthropometric indexes and to further examine the potential mediating role of thyroid function. METHODS: Demographics and laboratory measures of 924 mother-infant pairs were obtained from the database of the Sheyang Mini Birth Cohort Study. We applied gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and electrochemiluminescence immunoassay to measure nine PBDE congeners and seven thyroid function parameters in umbilical cord serum samples, respectively. We fitted generalized linear models and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) to evaluate associations of lipid-adjusted cord serum PBDEs, as individuals and as a mixture, with newborn anthropometric and cord serum thyroid function parameters. We applied causal mediation analysis to test our hypothesis that thyroid function parameters act as a mediator between PBDEs and birth outcomes. RESULTS: The molarity of cord serum ∑9PBDE had a median value of 31.23 nmol/g lipid (IQR 19.14 nmol/g lipid, 54.77 nmol/g lipid). BDE-209 was the most dominant congener. Birth length was positively associated with both single exposure to BDE-28 and cumulative exposure to PBDEs. Correspondingly, ponderal index (PI) was negatively associated with BDE-28 and the total effects of PBDE mixture. Free triiodothyronine had a negative trend with BDE-209 and PBDE mixture. In the sex-stratified analysis, BDE-153 concentrations were positively correlated with PI among males (ß = 0.03; 95%CI: 0.01, 0.05; P = 0.01) but not among females. Cord serum thyrotropin mediated 14.92% of the estimated effect of BDE-153 on PI. CONCLUSIONS: In-utero mixture exposure to PBDEs was associated with birth outcomes and thyroid function. Thyroid function might act as a mediator in the process in which PBDEs impact the growth of the fetus.

Occurrence and Exposure Assessment of Nickel in Zhejiang Province, China.

Nickel (Ni) is a silver-white metal with high antioxidative properties, often existing in a bivalent form in the environment. Despite being the fifth most abundant metal on Earth, anthropogenic activities, including industrial processes, have elevated Ni levels in environmental media. This study investigated Ni contamination in various food groups in Zhejiang Province, China, mainly focusing on Ni levels in beans, vegetables, aquatic foods, meat products, cereal products, and fruits. A total of 2628 samples were collected and analyzed. Beans exhibited the highest Ni content in all samples. The overall detection rate of Ni was 86.5%, with variation among food categories. For plant-origin foods, legumes had the highest Ni concentration while for animal-origin foods, shellfish showed the highest median Ni concentration. The results indicate generally acceptable Ni exposure levels among Zhejiang residents, except for children aged 0-6. Beans were identified as the primary contributor to high Ni exposure risk. The paper suggests monitoring Ni contamination in food, especially for vulnerable populations, and provides insights into exposure risks in different age groups.

Risk factors associated with food consumption and food-handling habits for sporadic listeriosis: a case-control study in China from 2013 to 2022.

The prevalence of listeriosis in China has been increasing in recent years. Listeriosis primarily spreads through contaminated food. However, the resilient causative organism, Listeria monocytogenes, and its extended incubation period pose challenges in identifying risk factors associated with food consumption and food-handling habits. This study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with food consumption and food-handling habits for listeriosis in China. A matched case-control study (1:1 ratio) was conducted, which enrolled all eligible cases of listeriosis between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2022 in China. Basic information and possible risk factors associated with food consumption and food-handling habits were collected. Overall, 359 patients were enrolled, including 208 perinatal and 151 non-perinatal cases. Univariate and multivariable logistic analyzes were performed for the perinatal group. For the perinatal and non-perinatal groups, ice cream and Chinese cold dishes were the high-risk foods for listeriosis (odds ratio (OR) 2.09 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.23-3.55; OR 3.17 95% CI: 1.29-7.81), respectively; consumption of leftovers and pet ownership were the high-risk food-handling habits (OR 1.92 95% CI: 1.03-3.59; OR 3.00 95% CI: 1.11-8.11), respectively. In both groups, separation of raw and cooked foods was a protective factor (OR 0.27 95% CI: 0.14-0.51; OR 0.35 95% CI: 0.14-0.89), while refrigerator cleaning reduced the infection risk by 64.94-70.41% only in the perinatal group. The identification of high-risk foods and food-handling habits for listeriosis is important for improving food safety guidelines for vulnerable populations.

Occurrence and Health Risks of Organic Micropollutants in Tap Water in Dalian.

Organic micropollutants (OMPs) in tap water may pose risks to human health. Previous studies on the potential health risks of OMPs in tap water may have underestimated the potential health risks of OMPs due to their limited coverage in target pollutants and incomplete toxicity data. In this study, tap water samples were collected in 37 sampling sites in Dalian, China. More than 1,200 target pollutants were screened by combining screening analysis and target analysis. A total of 93 OMPs were detected, with concentration summation ranging from 157 to 1.7 × 104 ng/L among different sampling sites. A total of 17 OMPs (12 agrochemicals, 3 pharmaceuticals and personal care products, and 2 other compounds) were detected in over 80% of the sampling sites. Especially, imidacloprid, tebuconazole, and atrazine-desethyl were found in all the sampling sites. Computational toxicology models were adopted to predict the missing toxicity threshold values of the identified chemicals. Noncarcinogenic risks were estimated to be negligible among all the sampling sites, while carcinogenic risks at six sites were above 10-6 but below 10-4, indicating non-negligible risks. Griseofulvin contributed the most to the carcinogenic risk. This study offers valuable insights that can guide future initiatives to safeguard tap water safety.

Sex-specific associations of maternal and childhood urinary arsenic levels with emotional problems among 6-year-age children: Evidence from a longitudinal cohort study in China.

BACKGROUND: Arsenic exposure has been linked to neurobehavior development disorders among children in cross-sectional studies, but there is little information on the effects of prenatal and childhood arsenic exposure on childhood behavior problem, especially emotional problems. OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between prenatal and childhood arsenic exposure and behavior problems among six-year-old children. METHODS: 389 mother-child pairs from a longitudinal birth cohort were enrolled in the study. The concentrations of arsenic in maternal and 6-year-old children's urine were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Neurobehavioral development in 6-year-old children was assessed by Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Generalized linear regression models were used to relate arsenic exposure to the score of different domains in CBCL. RESULTS: The median concentrations of maternal and 6-year-old children's urinary arsenic were 22.22 and 33.86 µg/L, respectively. After adjusting for potential covariates, natural logarithm transformed concurrent urinary arsenic levels were significantly associated with scores of anxious and depressed problems in 6-year-old girls (ß = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.12-1.31, p = 0.018). Furthermore, in terms of the trajectory of arsenic exposure, compared with the "consistently low" group, the "low to high" group (ß = 2.73, 95% CI: -3.99 to 9.45, p = 0.425) had a greater effect on total score of CBCL than "high to low" group (ß = -0.93, 95% CI: -7.22 to 5.36, p = 0.771) in girls, although insignificant. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that concurrent arsenic exposure might have an adverse effect of emotional status in girls. Further studies are needed to verify the findings and explore the mechanisms of the sex-specific association.

An Occurrence and Exposure Assessment of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins from Shellfish in Zhejiang Province, China.

The intake of paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) may adversely affect human health. Therefore, this study aimed to show the prevalence of PSTs from commercially available shellfish in Zhejiang Province, China, during the period of frequent red tides, investigate the factors affecting the distribution of PSTs, and assess the risk of PST intake following the consumption of bivalve shellfish among the Zhejiang population. A total of 546 shellfish samples were collected, 7.0% of which had detectable PSTs at concentrations below the regulatory limit. Temporal, spatial, and interspecific variations in the occurrence of PSTs were observed in some cases. The dietary exposure to PSTs among the general population of consumers only was low. However, young children in the extreme scenario (the 95th percentile of daily shellfish consumption combined with the maximum PST concentration), defined as 89-194% of the recommended acute reference doses, were possibly at risk of exposure. Notably, Arcidae and mussels were the major sources of exposure to toxins. From the public health perspective, PSTs from commercially available shellfish do not pose a serious health risk; however, more attention should be paid to acute health risks, especially for young children, during periods of frequent red tides.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in umbilical cord serum and body mass index trajectories from birth to age 10 years: Findings from a longitudinal birth cohort (SMBCS).

BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has been linked to low birth weight but higher childhood weight and obesity. However, little is known regarding the associations between PFAS exposure and dynamic body mass index (BMI) trajectories, particularly from birth through preadolescence. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the associations of cord serum PFAS concentrations with BMI trajectories from birth to age 10 years and longitudinal BMI in different periods. METHODS: Based on 887 mother-child pairs in the longitudinal prospective birth cohort, we measured 12 PFAS congeners in cord serum and calculated BMI with anthropometric indicators at 9 follow-up time points from birth to age 10 years. The BMI trajectories were identified using group-based trajectory model (GBTM). To estimate the associations of cord serum PFAS levels with BMI trajectories and longitudinal changes in BMI, logistic regression models, linear mixed models, Bayesian kernel machine regression, and quantile-based g-computation models (QGC) were used. RESULTS: The median concentrations of 10 PFAS congeners included in statistical analysis ranged from 0.047 to 3.623 µg/L. Two BMI trajectory classes were identified by GBTM, characterized by high group and low group. In logistic regression models, five PFAS congeners (PFBA, PFHpA, PFHxS, PFHpS, and PFDoDA) were associated with the higher probability of being in high BMI trajectory group (odds ratio, OR: 1.21 to 1.74, p < 0.05). Meanwhile, higher PFAS mixture were related to elevated odds for the high group in both BKMR models and QGC models, with PFHpA and PFHpS being the two most important drivers jointly. In the sex-stratified analysis, the positive associations remained significant exclusively among males. In the longitudinal analysis, PFUnDA and PFDoDA were associated with increased BMI from birth to age 10 years. Furthermore, PFBS and PFHpA were negatively related to BMI throughout infancy and toddlerhood (from birth to age 3 years), whereas PFDoDA confirmed a positive association with mid-childhood (from age 6 to 10 years) BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal PFAS exposure was positively associated with BMI trajectories from birth to preadolescence and longitudinal BMI in various periods. Future research could use better trajectory modeling strategies to shape more complete growth trajectories and explore the relationship between BMI trajectories and adulthood health.

DreamStone: Image as a Stepping Stone for Text-Guided 3D Shape Generation.

This paper presents a new text-guided 3D shape generation approach DreamStone that uses images as a stepping stone to bridge the gap between the text and shape modalities for generating 3D shapes without requiring paired text and 3D data. The core of our approach is a two-stage feature-space alignment strategy that leverages a pre-trained single-view reconstruction (SVR) model to map CLIP features to shapes: to begin with, map the CLIP image feature to the detail-rich 3D shape space of the SVR model, then map the CLIP text feature to the 3D shape space through encouraging the CLIP-consistency between the rendered images and the input text. Besides, to extend beyond the generative capability of the SVR model, we design the text-guided 3D shape stylization module that can enhance the output shapes with novel structures and textures. Further, we exploit pre-trained text-to-image diffusion models to enhance the generative diversity, fidelity, and stylization capability. Our approach is generic, flexible, and scalable. It can be easily integrated with various SVR models to expand the generative space and improve the generative fidelity. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that our approach outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of generative quality and consistency with the input text.

[Occurrence and exposure assessment of fumonisins from grains and grain products in Zhejiang Province in 2018-2019].

OBJECTIVE: To monitor fumonisins(FBs) in grains and grain products in Zhejiang and assess the exposure risks of FBs to local residents. METHODS: Liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry method was used to determine the occurrence of FBs in rice, millet, dried noodles, instant noodles, and maize grains, and food frequency questionnaires were used to collect the food consumption data of Zhejiang population. Then, the simple probability distribution model was used to assess the exposure risk. RESULTS: The levels of FBs in rice, millet, dried noodles and instant noodles were relatively low. The occurrence of FB_1, FB_2 and FB_3 in these foods was 0-23.7%, 0-16.7% and 0-5.4%, respectively, and the mean levels were not detected(ND)-22.36, ND-20.63 and ND-7.19 µg/kg correspondingly. However, the levels of FBs in maize grains were relatively high. The occurrence of FB_1, FB_2, and FB_3 in maize grains was 100%, 93.6% and 90.3%, respectively, and the mean levels were 638.99, 103.54 and 59.69 µg/kg correspondingly. In 12.9% of the maize grain samples, the levels of FBs were higher than the standard reference. The residents were at low exposure risk overall. The mean estimated daily intake(EDI) of FBs was far lower than the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake of 2 µg/(kg·BW·d). However, 0.30% of the residents were at high risk. Among people of different ages, the mean EDI of children, adults, and elderly were 0.43, 0.28 and 0.29 µg/(kg·BW·d) respectively, and children were in the highest exposure levels of FBs. Among the tested five foodstuffs, rice and maize grains were the main sources of FBs exposure. CONCLUSION: Except for maize grains, the levels of FBs in grains and grain products were relatively low, and Zhejiang residents were at low FBs exposure risk generally.

[Contamination and dietary exposure assessment of 2-chloropropanol esters in vegetable oils available on Zhejiang market during 2016-2020].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the occurrence data for 2-chloropropanol(2-MCPD) ester in edible vegetable oils purchased in Zhejiang Province during 2016-2020, and to estimate dietary exposures of 2-MCPD ester via vegetable oil. METHODS: A total of 404 samples of edible oils were collected from markets, stores, online shopping in Zhejiang Province, the occurrence of 2-MCPD ester was detected by gas chromatography mass spectrometry from 2016-2020. Data of vegetable oils consumption was obtained from the survey result of urban and rural residents in Zhejiang Province in 2008. The exposure levels of 2-chloropropanol ester was calculated for people aged 4-6, 7-10, 11-17, 18-59 and 60 years old and older from the consumption of vegetable oils. RESULTS: The detection rate of 2-MCPD esters in 404 samples was 82.7%(334/404) with the mean level of 0.32 mg/kg. Among them, the mean content of camellia oil was the highest with 1.23 mg/kg, followed by rice oil(0.69 mg/kg); sunflower oil, olive oil and soybean oil have relatively low average values, respectively with 0.11, 0.12 and 0.13 mg/kg. There are significant differences in 2-MCPD ester content in different types of edible oils of the same brand(P<0.05), the content of 2-MCPD ester in different brands of peanut oil was significant(P<0.05), but in different brands of corn oil was not statistically significant. Among the edible vegetable oil consumers, the average exposure of 2-MCPD esters in different age groups ranged from 0.21 to 0.69 µg/(kg·BW·d). CONCLUSION: 2-MCPD esters pollution is widespread in vegetable oils, the severity of pollution was affected by the type and brand of the edible vegetable oil, and the intake of 2-MCPD esters was relatively high among people with high vegetable oil consumption and the general population of 4-10 years old.

Vertical Layering of Quantized Neural Networks for Heterogeneous Inference.

Although considerable progress has been obtained in neural network quantization for efficient inference, existing methods are not scalable to heterogeneous devices as one dedicated model needs to be trained, transmitted, and stored for one specific hardware setting, incurring considerable costs in model training and maintenance. In this paper, we study a new vertical-layered representation of neural network weights for encapsulating all quantized models into a single one. It represents weights as a group of bits (i.e., vertical layers) organized from the most significant bit (also called the basic layer) to less significant bits (i.e., enhance layers). Hence, a neural network with an arbitrary quantization precision can be obtained by adding corresponding enhance layers to the basic layer. However, we empirically find that models obtained with existing quantization methods suffer severe performance degradation if they are adapted to vertical-layered weight representation. To this end, we propose a simple once quantization-aware training (QAT) scheme for obtaining high-performance vertical-layered models. Our design incorporates a cascade downsampling mechanism with the multi-objective optimization employed to train the shared source model weights such that they can be updated simultaneously, considering the performance of all networks. After the model is trained, to construct a vertical-layered network, the lowest bit-width quantized weights become the basic layer, and every bit dropped along the downsampling process act as an enhance layer. Our design is extensively evaluated on CIFAR-100 and ImageNet datasets. Experiments show that the proposed vertical-layered representation and developed once QAT scheme are effective in embodying multiple quantized networks into a single one and allow one-time training, and it delivers comparable performance as that of quantized models tailored to any specific bit-width.

Estimating the health burden of foodborne gastroenteritis caused by non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica and Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Zhejiang province, China.

As acute gastrointestinal (AGI) disease patients only sometimes seek medical care or submit stool samples for testing, and laboratories cannot detect or identify the pathogen, most cases of foodborne gastroenteritis still need to be identified through public health monitoring. We conducted a population survey and sentinel hospital surveillance to determine the burden of foodborne gastroenteritis caused by non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica (NTS) and Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection, from July 2018 to June 2019 in Zhejiang province, China, and a model for calculating disease burden established. Using the burden of illness pyramid model, we estimated that there were 140.3 cases of NTS infection and 136.2 cases of V. parahaemolyticus infection. We estimated annual incidence per 100,000 population in Zhejiang province as 236 (95% confidence interval [CI] 208-267) and 206 (95% CI 155-232) cases for foodborne NTS and V. parahaemolyticus gastroenteritis, respectively. The results show that AGI caused by these two pathogens constitutes a substantial burden in the Zhejiang population. The health burden of AGI estimations caused by NTS and V. parahaemolyticus in this study can serve as a strategic framework to direct policy and intervention.

Cadmium Exposure in Aquatic Products and Health Risk Classification Assessment in Residents of Zhejiang, China.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution of food safety is a prominent food safety concern worldwide. The concentration of Cd in six aquatic food categories collected from 2018 to 2022 was analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and the Cd exposure levels were calculated by combining the Cd concentration and food consumption data of 18913 urban and rural residents in Zhejiang Province in 2015-2016. The mean Cd concentration was 0.699 mg/kg and the mean Cd exposure of aquatic foods was 0.00951 mg/kg BW/month for the general population. Marine crustaceans were the largest Cd contributor, corresponding to 82.7%. The regional distribution results showed that the average Cd exposure levels of 11 cities did not exceed the provisional tolerable monthly intake (PTMI). According to the subgroups, the Cd mean exposure level of 2-3-year-old children was significantly higher than that of the other age groups but did not exceed the PTMI. Health risk classification assessment demonstrated that the final risk score was six, and the health risk level of Cd exposure in aquatic products in the Zhejiang population was medium. These results demonstrated that the risk of Cd exposure in certain food types or age groups should be given more concern.

Epidemiological characteristics of Vibrio parahaemolyticus outbreaks, Zhejiang, China, 2010-2022.

Background: Vibrio parahaemolyticus is one of the most common foodborne pathogens and poses a significant disease burden. The purpose of the study was to elucidate the epidemiological characteristics of Vibrio parahaemolyticus outbreaks in Zhejiang Province, and provide insights for the targeted prevention and control of foodborne diseases. Methods: Descriptive statistical methods were utilized to analyze the data on Vibrio parahaemolyticus outbreaks reported by all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCs) through Foodborne Disease Outbreaks Surveillance System (FDOSS) in Zhejiang Province from 2010 to 2022. Results: From 2010 to 2022, a total of 383 outbreaks caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus were reported by 90 CDCs in 11 prefectures of Zhejiang Province, resulting in 4,382 illnesses, 326 hospitalizations and 1 death. The main symptoms of the outbreak-related cases were diarrhea (95.18%), abdominal pain (89.23%), nausea (55.64%), vomiting (50.57%), fever (24.21%), etc. The outbreaks occurring between July and September accounted for 77.54% of all outbreaks (297 out of 383). Outbreaks associated with restaurants accounted for the majority (57.96%, 222/383) of all outbreaks, followed by those linked to staff canteens (15.40%, 59/383) and rural banquets (11.23%, 43/383). 31.85% of all outbreaks were associated with the consumption of aquatic products, while ready-to-eat foods such as Chinese cold dishes and cooked meat products accounted for 12.53% of all outbreaks. Serotype O3:K6 (81.94%, 118/144) was the predominant serotype responsible for outbreaks from 2010 to 2020, while serotype O10:K4 (57.89%, 33/57) was the predominant serotype from 2021 to 2022. Conclusion: In-depth and comprehensive analysis of long-term surveillance data on Vibrio parahaemolyticus outbreaks is essential to gain insight into the epidemiological characteristics, identify long-term patterns and recent trends, and enable governments to prioritize interventions and develop targeted policies to mitigate such outbreaks.

[Activation of renal outer medullary potassium channel in the renal distal convoluted tubule by high potassium diet].

Renal outer medullary potassium (ROMK) channel is an important K+ excretion channel in the body, and K+ secreted by the ROMK channels is most or all source of urinary potassium. Previous studies focused on the ROMK channels of thick ascending limb (TAL) and collecting duct (CD), while there were few studies on the involvement of ROMK channels of the late distal convoluted tubule (DCT2) in K+ excretion. The purpose of the present study was mainly to record the ROMK channels current in renal DCT2 and observe the effect of high potassium diet on the ROMK channels by using single channel and whole-cell patch-clamp techniques. The results showed that a small conductance channel current with a conductance of 39 pS could be recorded in the apical membrane of renal DCT2, and it could be blocked by Tertiapin-Q (TPNQ), a ROMK channel inhibitor. The high potassium diet significantly increased the probability of ROMK channel current occurrence in the apical membrane of renal DCT2, and enhanced the activity of ROMK channel, compared to normal potassium diet (P < 0.01). Western blot results also demonstrated that the high potassium diet significantly up-regulated the protein expression levels of ROMK channels and epithelial sodium channel (ENaC), and down-regulated the protein expression level of Na+-Cl- cotransporter (NCC). Moreover, the high potassium diet significantly increased urinary potassium excretion. These results suggest that the high potassium diet may activate the ROMK channels in the apical membrane of renal DCT2 and increase the urinary potassium excretion by up-regulating the expression of renal ROMK channels.