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OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the clinical findings of hospitalized paediatric COVID-19 patients by the end of 2022. METHOD: All confirmed children with COVID-19 infection admitted into Chaozhou Central Hospital during the COVID-19 outbreak from 19 December 2022 to 1 February 2023 were included. Detailed clinical data of those children were evaluated retrospectively. RESULTS: A total of 286 children, ranging in age from 1 month to 13 years old, were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Among these cases, 138 (48.3%) were categorized as mild, 126 (44.0%) as moderate and 22 (7.7%) as severe/critical. Symptoms varied among the children and included fever, upper respiratory tract symptoms, convulsions, sore throat, poor appetite, dyspnoea and gastrointestinal symptoms. Notably, febrile convulsions were observed in 96 (33.6%) patients, while acute laryngitis was documented in 50 (17.5%) cases. Among the severe/critical patients, eight developed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), and tragically, one patient's condition worsened and resulted in death. Furthermore, MRI scans revealed abnormal brain signals in six severe/critical patients. The severe/critical group also exhibited more pronounced laboratory abnormalities, including decreased haemoglobin and elevated ALT, AST, LDH and CK levels. CONCLUSIONS: Febrile convulsions and acute laryngitis are frequently observed in children diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection. Moreover, MIS-C and abnormal neuroimaging appear to be relatively common phenomena in severe/critical cases.
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COVID-19 , SARS-CoV-2 , Humanos , COVID-19/epidemiologia , COVID-19/complicações , China/epidemiologia , Estudos Retrospectivos , Masculino , Pré-Escolar , Criança , Feminino , Lactente , Adolescente , Surtos de Doenças , Hospitalização/estatística & dados numéricos , Índice de Gravidade de DoençaRESUMO
The main cause of corneal blindness worldwide is keratitis, especially the infectious form caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, and Acanthamoeba. The key to effective management of infectious keratitis hinges on prompt and precise diagnosis. Nevertheless, the current gold standard, such as cultures of corneal scrapings, remains time-consuming and frequently yields false-negative results. Here, using 23,055 slit-lamp images collected from 12 clinical centers nationwide, this study constructed a clinically feasible deep learning system, DeepIK, that could emulate the diagnostic process of a human expert to identify and differentiate bacterial, fungal, viral, amebic, and noninfectious keratitis. DeepIK exhibited remarkable performance in internal, external, and prospective datasets (all areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves > 0.96) and outperformed three other state-of-the-art algorithms (DenseNet121, InceptionResNetV2, and Swin-Transformer). Our study indicates that DeepIK possesses the capability to assist ophthalmologists in accurately and swiftly identifying various infectious keratitis types from slit-lamp images, thereby facilitating timely and targeted treatment.
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Significant differences exist in aroma and taste of different grades of large-leaf black tea. In this study, sensory histology combined with metabolomics were used to investigate the sensory characteristics and phytochemical profiles of different grades of Huangpu black tea (HPBT). Sensory evaluation showed that high grade HPBT had high intensity of pekoe, fresh aroma and umami, with aroma and taste scores declining with decreasing grades. 173 non-volatiles were identified, of which 23 marker metabolites could be used as discrimination of different grades HPBT taste. In addition, 154 volatile compounds were identified in the different grades of HPBT, with 15 compounds as key odorants for distinguishing the aroma of different grades of HPBT. Furthermore, correlation analysis revealed that linalool, geraniol and nonanal contributed to the aroma quality score of HPBT. This study will provide a more comprehensive understanding for processing, quality evaluation and grade evaluation system of large-leaf black tea.
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CRISPR-Cas technology is a widely utilized gene-editing tool that involves gRNA-guided sequence recognition and Cas nuclease-mediated cleavage. The design and evaluation of gRNA are essential for enhancing CRISPR/Cas editing efficiency. Various assays such as single-strand annealing, in vitro cleavage, and T7 endonuclease I (T7EI) are commonly used to assess gRNA-mediated Cas protein cleavage activity. In this study, a firefly luciferase and Renilla luciferase co-expressed and a cleavage-based single-plasmid dual-luciferase surrogate reporter was built to evaluate the gRNA-mediated Cas12a cleavage efficiency. The cleavage activities of CRISPR-Cas12a can be quantitatively determined by the recovery degree of firefly luciferase activity. The cleavage efficiency of CRISPR-Cas12a can be quantitatively measured by the recovery of firefly luciferase activity. By using this system, the cleavage efficiency of CRISPR-Cas12a on hepatitis B virus (HBV)/D expression plasmid was evaluated, revealing a negative correlation between gRNA cleavage efficiency and HBV gene expression measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. This simple, efficient, and quantifiable system only requires the dual-luciferase vector and CRISPR-Cas12a vector, making it a valuable tool for selecting effective gRNAs for gene editing.
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Proteínas Associadas a CRISPR , Sistemas CRISPR-Cas , Edição de Genes , Genes Reporter , Luciferases , Plasmídeos , RNA Guia de Sistemas CRISPR-Cas , Edição de Genes/métodos , RNA Guia de Sistemas CRISPR-Cas/genética , Plasmídeos/genética , Humanos , Luciferases/genética , Luciferases/metabolismo , Proteínas Associadas a CRISPR/genética , Proteínas Associadas a CRISPR/metabolismo , Vírus da Hepatite B/genética , Endodesoxirribonucleases/metabolismo , Endodesoxirribonucleases/genética , Luciferases de Vaga-Lume/genética , Luciferases de Vaga-Lume/metabolismo , Repetições Palindrômicas Curtas Agrupadas e Regularmente Espaçadas/genética , Proteínas de Bactérias/genética , Proteínas de Bactérias/metabolismoRESUMO
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major global health burden with 820 000 deaths per year. In our previous study, we found that the knockdown of autophagy-related protein 5 (ATG5) significantly upregulated the interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) expression to exert the anti-HCV effect. However, the regulation of ATG5 on HBV replication and its underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we screened the altered expression of type I interferon (IFN-I) pathway genes using RT² Profiler™ PCR array following ATG5 knock-down and we found the bone marrow stromal cell antigen 2 (BST2) expression was significantly increased. We then verified the upregulation of BST2 by ATG5 knockdown using RT-qPCR and found that the knockdown of ATG5 activated the Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK-STAT) signaling pathway. ATG5 knockdown or BST2 overexpression decreased Hepatitis B core Antigen (HBcAg) protein, HBV DNA levels in cells and supernatants of HepAD38 and HBV-infected NTCP-HepG2. Knockdown of BST2 abrogated the anti-HBV effect of ATG5 knockdown. Furthermore, we found that ATG5 interacted with BST2, and further formed a ternary complex together with HBV-X (HBx). In conclusion, our finding indicates that ATG5 promotes HBV replication through decreasing BST2 expression and interacting with it directly to antagonize its antiviral function.
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Antígenos CD , Proteína 5 Relacionada à Autofagia , Antígeno 2 do Estroma da Médula Óssea , Proteínas Ligadas por GPI , Vírus da Hepatite B , Replicação Viral , Humanos , Antígenos CD/genética , Antígenos CD/metabolismo , Proteína 5 Relacionada à Autofagia/genética , Proteína 5 Relacionada à Autofagia/metabolismo , Técnicas de Silenciamento de Genes , Proteínas Ligadas por GPI/metabolismo , Proteínas Ligadas por GPI/genética , Células Hep G2 , Hepatite B/virologia , Hepatite B/genética , Vírus da Hepatite B/fisiologia , Vírus da Hepatite B/genética , Interações Hospedeiro-Patógeno , Transdução de Sinais , Antígeno 2 do Estroma da Médula Óssea/metabolismoRESUMO
Smart windows with radiative heat management capability using the sun and outer space as zero-energy thermodynamic resources have gained prominence, demonstrating a minimum carbon footprint. However, realizing on-demand thermal management throughout all seasons while reducing fossil energy consumption remains a formidable challenge. Herein, an energy-efficient smart window that enables actively tunable passive radiative cooling (PRC) and multimode heating regulation is demonstrated by integrating the emission-enhanced polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (SiO2@PRC PDLC) film and a low-emission layer deposited with carbon nanotubes. Specifically, this device can achieve a temperature close to the chamber interior ambient under solar irradiance of 700 W m-2, as well as a temperature drop of 2.3 °C at sunlight of 500 W m-2, whose multistage PRC efficiency can be rapidly adjusted by a moderate voltage. Meanwhile, synchronous cooperation of passive radiative heating (PRH), solar heating (SH), and electric heating (EH) endows this smart window with the capability to handle complicated heating situations during cold weather. Energy simulation reveals the substantial superiority of this device in energy savings compared with single-layer SiO2@PRC PDLC, normal glass, and commercial low-E glass when applied in different climate zones. This work provides a feasible pathway for year-round thermal management, presenting a huge potential in energy-saving applications.
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Pathogen infections including Shigella flexneri have posed a significant threat to human health for numerous years. Although culturing and qPCR were the gold standards for pathogen detection, time-consuming and instrument-dependent restrict their application in rapid diagnosis and economically less-developed regions. Thus, it is urgently needed to develop rapid, simple, sensitive, accurate, and low-cost detection methods for pathogen detection. In this study, an immunomagnetic beads-recombinase polymerase amplification-CRISPR/Cas12a (IMB-RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a) method was built based on a cascaded signal amplification strategy for ultra-specific, ultra-sensitive, and visual detection of S. flexneri in the laboratory. Firstly, S. flexneri was specifically captured and enriched by IMB (Shigella antibody-coated magnetic beads), and the genomic DNA was released and used as the template in the RPA reaction. Then, the RPA products were mixed with the pre-loaded CRISPR/Cas12a for fluorescence visualization. The results were observed by naked eyes under LED blue light, with a sensitivity of 5 CFU/mL in a time of 70 min. With no specialized equipment or complicated technical requirements, the IMB-RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a diagnostic method can be used for visual, rapid, and simple detection of S. flexneri and can be easily adapted to monitoring other pathogens.
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Anticorpos , Shigella flexneri , Humanos , Luz Azul , Fluorescência , RecombinasesRESUMO
Respiratory infections pose a serious threat to global public health, underscoring the urgent need for rapid, accurate, and large-scale diagnostic tools. In recent years, the CRISPR/Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated) system, combined with isothermal amplification methods, has seen widespread application in nucleic acid testing (NAT). However, achieving a single-tube reaction system containing all necessary components is challenging due to the competitive effects between recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and CRISPR/Cas reagents. Furthermore, to enable precision medicine, distinguishing between bacterial and viral infections is essential. Here, we have developed a novel NAT method, termed one-pot-RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a, which combines RPA with CRISPR molecular diagnostic technology, enabling simultaneous detection of 12 common respiratory pathogens, including six bacteria and six viruses. RPA and CRISPR/Cas12a reactions are separated by paraffin, providing an independent platform for RPA reactions to generate sufficient target products before being mixed with the CRISPR/Cas12a system. Results can be visually observed under LED blue light. The sensitivity of the one-pot-RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a method is 2.5 × 100 copies/µL plasmids, with no cross-reaction with other bacteria or viruses. Additionally, the clinical utility was evaluated by testing clinical isolates of bacteria and virus throat swab samples, demonstrating favorable performance. Thus, our one-pot-RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a method shows immense potential for accurate and large-scale detection of 12 common respiratory pathogens in point-of-care testing.
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Bactérias , Sistemas CRISPR-Cas , Técnicas de Diagnóstico Molecular , Infecções Respiratórias , Vírus , Bactérias/genética , Bactérias/isolamento & purificação , Infecções Bacterianas/diagnóstico , Infecções Bacterianas/microbiologia , Técnicas de Diagnóstico Molecular/métodos , Técnicas de Amplificação de Ácido Nucleico/métodos , Recombinases/genética , Recombinases/metabolismo , Infecções Respiratórias/diagnóstico , Infecções Respiratórias/virologia , Infecções Respiratórias/microbiologia , Sensibilidade e Especificidade , Viroses/diagnóstico , Vírus/genética , Vírus/isolamento & purificaçãoRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Early eye screening and treatment can reduce the incidence of blindness by detecting and addressing eye diseases at an early stage. The Ophthalmologist Robot is an automated device that can simultaneously capture ocular surface and fundus images without the need for ophthalmologists, making it highly suitable for primary application. However, the accuracy of the device's screening capabilities requires further validation. This study aims to evaluate and compare the screening accuracies of ophthalmologists and deep learning models using images captured by the Ophthalmologist Robot, in order to identify a screening method that is both highly accurate and cost-effective. Our findings may provide valuable insights into the potential applications of remote eye screening. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a multicentre, prospective study that will recruit approximately 1578 participants from 3 hospitals. All participants will undergo ocular surface and fundus images taken by the Ophthalmologist Robot. Additionally, 695 participants will have their ocular surface imaged with a slit lamp. Relevant information from outpatient medical records will be collected. The primary objective is to evaluate the accuracy of ophthalmologists' screening for multiple blindness-causing eye diseases using device images through receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. The targeted diseases include keratitis, corneal scar, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, glaucomatous optic neuropathy and pathological myopia. The secondary objective is to assess the accuracy of deep learning models in disease screening. Furthermore, the study aims to compare the consistency between the Ophthalmologist Robot and the slit lamp in screening for keratitis and corneal scar using the Kappa test. Additionally, the cost-effectiveness of three eye screening methods, based on non-telemedicine screening, ophthalmologist-telemedicine screening and artificial intelligence-telemedicine screening, will be assessed by constructing Markov models. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has obtained approval from the ethics committee of the Ophthalmology and Optometry Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University (reference: 2023-026 K-21-01). This work will be disseminated by peer-review publications, abstract presentations at national and international conferences and data sharing with other researchers. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR2300070082.
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Lesões da Córnea , Retinopatia Diabética , Ceratite , Oftalmologistas , Robótica , Humanos , Estudos Prospectivos , Inteligência Artificial , Cegueira/diagnóstico , Cegueira/etiologia , Retinopatia Diabética/diagnóstico , Estudos Multicêntricos como AssuntoRESUMO
Cytidine/uridine monophosphate kinase 2 (UMP-CMP kinase 2, CMPK2) has been reported as an antiviral interferon-stimulated gene (ISG). We previously observed that the expression of CMPK2 was significantly upregulated after Zika Virus (ZIKV) infection in A549 cells. However, the association and the underlying mechanisms between CMPK2 induction and ZIKV replication remain to be determined. We investigated the induction of CMPK2 during ZIKV infection and the effect of CMPK2 on ZIKV replication in A549, U251, Vero, IFNAR-deficient U5A and its parental 2fTGH cells, Huh7 and its RIG-I-deficient derivatives Huh7.5.1 cells. The activation status of Jak-STAT signaling pathway was determined by detecting the phosphorylation level of STAT1, the activity of interferon stimulated response element (ISRE) and the expression of several interferon stimulated genes (ISGs). We found that ZIKV infection induced CMPK2 expression through an IFNAR and RIG-I dependent manner. Overexpression of CMPK2 inhibited while CMPK2 knockdown promoted ZIKV replication in A549 and U251 cells. Mechanically, we found that CMPK2 overexpression increased IFNß expression and activated Jak/STAT signaling pathway as shown by the increased level of p-STAT1, enhanced activity of ISRE, and the upregulated expression of downstream ISGs. These findings suggest that ZIKV infection induced CMPK2 expression, which inhibited ZIKV replication and serves as a positive feedback regulator for IFN-Jak/STAT pathway.
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Interferon Tipo I , Núcleosídeo-Fosfato Quinase , Infecção por Zika virus , Zika virus , Humanos , Zika virus/metabolismo , Transdução de Sinais , Janus Quinases/metabolismo , Fatores de Transcrição STAT/metabolismo , Fatores de Transcrição STAT/farmacologia , Interferon Tipo I/genética , Replicação Viral , Receptores ImunológicosRESUMO
Exosomes are 60-120 nm diameter double-membrane lipid organelles discharged by cells. Various studies have shown that exosomes exert multiple functions in both physical and diseased processes, such as intercellular information exchange, immune response, and disease progression. Repeated chronic injury to the liver often leads to inflammation and liver fibrosis (LF), a disorder that, if unchecked, may progress to cirrhosis, liver failure, portal hypertension, and even hepatocellular carcinoma. As an essential component of host innate immunity against pathogen invasion, macrophages play an important role in modulating inflammation homeostasis by finely tuning the polarization process of macrophages into either M1 or M2 subtypes in response to different microenvironments. As a critical contributor to the inflammation process, macrophages also play a complex and instrumental function in the progression of LF. This review focuses on recent advancements in the role of macrophage-associated exosomes implicated in LF, including macrophage-released exosomes and macrophage-targeted exosomes. In addition, the progress made in exosome-based antifibrotic therapy by in vivo and in vitro studies is also highlighted.
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Objectives: Inadequate cytotrophoblast migration and invasion are speculated to result in preeclampsia, which is a pro-inflammatory condition. Sodium dichloroacetate (DCA) exerts anti-inflammatory actions. Thus,we sought to investigate the effect of DCA on the migration function of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated human-trophoblast-derived cell line (HTR-8/SVneo). Materials and Methods: HTR-8/SVneo cells were treated with LPS to suppress cell migration. Cell migration was examined by both scratch wound healing assay and transwell migration assay. Western blotting was used to analyze the expression levels of toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4), nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6 in the cells. Results: DCA reversed LPS-induced inhibition of migration in HTR-8/SVneo cells. Furthermore, DCA significantly suppressed LPS-induced activation of TLR4, phosphorylation of NF-κB (p65), translocation of p65 into the nucleus, and the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6). Treatment with inhibitors of TLR4 signal transduction (CLI095 or MD2-TLR-4-IN-1) reduced LPS-induced overexpression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and a synergistic effect was found between TLR4 inhibitors and DCA in HTR-8/SVneo cells. Conclusion: DCA improved trophoblast cell migration function by suppressing LPS-induced inflammation, at least in part, via the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway. This result indicates that DCA might be a potential therapeutic candidate for human pregnancy-related complications associated with trophoblast disorder.
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Fu brick tea (FBT) has unique "fungal flower" aroma traits, but its source of crucial aroma compounds is still controversial. Aspergillus cristatus is the dominant fungus that participated in the fermentation of FBT. In this study, volatiles of Aspergillus cristatus and corresponding fermented FBT were examined using GC × GC-Q-TOFMS. A total of 59 volatiles were shared by three strains of Aspergillus cristatus isolated from representative FBT. Among them, 1-octen-3-ol and 3-octanone were the most abundant. A total of 133 volatiles were screened as typical FBT volatiles from three FBTs fermented by the corresponding fungi. Aspergillus cristatus and FBT had only 29 coexisting volatiles, indicating that the volatiles of Aspergillus cristatus could not directly contribute to the aroma of FBT. The results of no significant correlation between volatile content in FBT and volatile content in Aspergillus cristatus suggested that intracellular metabolism of Aspergillus cristatus was not a direct driver of FBT aroma formation. Metabolic pathway analysis and proteomic analysis showed that the aroma in FBT was mainly formed by the enzymatic reaction of extracellular enzymes from Aspergillus cristatus. This study enriched our understanding of Aspergillus cristatus in the aroma formation process of FBT.
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Proteômica , Chá , Fermentação , Chá/metabolismo , Aspergillus/metabolismoRESUMO
IMPORTANCE: Over the past decade, increasing evidence has shown that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play important regulatory roles in viral infection and host antiviral responses. However, reports on the role of circRNAs in Zika virus (ZIKV) infection are limited. In this study, we identified 45 differentially expressed circRNAs in ZIKV-infected A549 cells by RNA sequencing. We clarified that a downregulated circRNA, hsa_circ_0007321, regulates ZIKV replication through targeting of miR-492 and the downstream gene NFKBID. NFKBID is a negative regulator of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), and we found that inhibition of the NF-κB pathway promotes ZIKV replication. Therefore, this finding that hsa_circ_0007321 exerts its regulatory role on ZIKV replication through the miR-492/NFKBID/NF-κB signaling pathway has implications for the development of strategies to suppress ZIKV and possibly other viral infections.
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RNA Circular , Infecção por Zika virus , Zika virus , Humanos , MicroRNAs/genética , MicroRNAs/metabolismo , NF-kappa B/genética , NF-kappa B/metabolismo , RNA Circular/genética , Transdução de Sinais , Zika virus/genética , Zika virus/metabolismo , Infecção por Zika virus/genéticaRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Dry eye (DE) is a multifactorial ocular surface disease causing considerable medical, social and financial implications. Currently, there is no recognised long-term, effective treatment to alleviate DE. Clinical evidence shows that electroacupuncture (EA) can improve DE symptoms, tear secretion and tear film stability, but it remains controversial whether it is just a placebo effect. We aim to provide solid clinical evidence for the EA treatment of DE. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a multicentre, randomised, sham-controlled trial. A total of 168 patients with DE will be enrolled and randomly assigned to EA or sham EA groups to receive 4-week consecutive treatments and follow-up for 24 weeks. The primary outcome is the change in the non-invasive tear break-up time (NIBUT) from baseline to week 4. The secondary outcomes include tear meniscus height, the Schirmer I test, corneal and conjunctival sensation, the ocular surface disease index, corneal fluorescein staining, the numerical rating scale and the Chinese DE-related quality of life scale. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The trial protocol and informed consent were approved by the Ethics Committee of Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (identifier: 2021-119), Shanghai Eye Disease Prevention and Treatment Center (identifier: 2022SQ003) and Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University (identifier: 2022014). TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT05552820.
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Síndromes do Olho Seco , Eletroacupuntura , Humanos , Qualidade de Vida , Método Simples-Cego , China , Resultado do Tratamento , Síndromes do Olho Seco/terapia , Síndromes do Olho Seco/diagnóstico , Ensaios Clínicos Controlados Aleatórios como Assunto , Estudos Multicêntricos como AssuntoRESUMO
Dry eye disease (DED) is a prevalent chronic eye disease characterized by an aberrant inflammatory response in ocular surface mucosa. The immunological alterations underlying DED remain largely unknown. In this study, we employed single-cell transcriptome sequencing of conjunctival tissue from environment-induced DED mice to investigate multicellular ecosystem and functional changes at different DED stages. Our results revealed an epithelial subtype with fibroblastic characteristics and pro-inflammatory effects emerging in the acute phase of DED. We also found that T helper (Th)1, Th17, and regulatory T cells (Treg) were the dominant clusters of differentiation (CD)4+ T-cell types involved in regulating immune responses and identified three distinct macrophage subtypes, with the CD72+CD11c+ subtype enhancing chronic inflammation. Furthermore, bulk transcriptome analysis of video display terminal-induced DED consistently suggested the presence of the pro-inflammatory epithelial subtype in human conjunctiva. Our findings have uncovered a DED-associated pro-inflammatory microenvironment in the conjunctiva, centered around epithelial cells, involving interactions with macrophages and CD4+ T cells, which deepens our understanding of ocular surface mucosal immune responses during DED progression.
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A method for determining tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) in tobacco and cigarette smoke using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was established. The established method amended the deficiencies that exist in current mainstream methods. In this method, TSNAs in tobacco and cigarette smoke were extracted by water. The aqueous extract was then extracted by dichloromethane, and the extract could be analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry after a solvent replacement. This method was used to analyze flue-cured tobacco samples, and the response of the target compounds was about 10 times higher than that of the ammonium acetate extraction method. When analyzing cigarette smoke samples, the response strength and chromatographic peak purity of the target compounds were also significantly improved. The proposed method exhibited good linearities for both tobacco and cigarette smoke samples (r2 > 0.99). The limits of detection (LODs) for tobacco and cigarette smoke samples were 0.2-1.0 ng/g and 0.1-0.3 ng/cigarette, respectively. Additionally, this method exhibited desirable accuracy and precision. The TSNAs recovery values from tobacco and cigarette smoke samples ranged from 95.7 % to 107.7 % with inter- and intra-day relative standard deviations (RSDs) of less than 7.4 %. This method is simple, effective, and has wide adaptability. It is a useful upgrade to the existing methods for analyzing TSNAs in tobacco and cigarette smoke.
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Fumar Cigarros , Nitrosaminas , Nitrosaminas/análise , Espectrometria de Massas em Tandem/métodos , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , Cromatografia LíquidaRESUMO
Purpose: To develop a visual function-based deep learning system (DLS) using fundus images to screen for visually impaired cataracts. Materials and methods: A total of 8,395 fundus images (5,245 subjects) with corresponding visual function parameters collected from three clinical centers were used to develop and evaluate a DLS for classifying non-cataracts, mild cataracts, and visually impaired cataracts. Three deep learning algorithms (DenseNet121, Inception V3, and ResNet50) were leveraged to train models to obtain the best one for the system. The performance of the system was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity. Results: The AUC of the best algorithm (DenseNet121) on the internal test dataset and the two external test datasets were 0.998 (95% CI, 0.996-0.999) to 0.999 (95% CI, 0.998-1.000),0.938 (95% CI, 0.924-0.951) to 0.966 (95% CI, 0.946-0.983) and 0.937 (95% CI, 0.918-0.953) to 0.977 (95% CI, 0.962-0.989), respectively. In the comparison between the system and cataract specialists, better performance was observed in the system for detecting visually impaired cataracts (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Our study shows the potential of a function-focused screening tool to identify visually impaired cataracts from fundus images, enabling timely patient referral to tertiary eye hospitals.
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A small percentage of couples who regularly donated blood in China tested positive for HBsAg. Although it is well known that blood donors can acquire hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection from a chronically infected sexual partner, the prevalence of occult hepatitis B infections (OBIs) among blood donations from partners of HBV-infected chronically infected spouses and the risk to blood safety remain poorly understood. Among 212 763 blood donors, 54 pairs of couples (108 donations) were enrolled because one partner tested positive for HBsAg. Several molecular and serological examinations were conducted. The origin of HBV transmission between sexual partners was investigated further. Also evaluated was the potential risk of HBV infection with OBIs. We identified 10 (10/54, 18.6%) sexual partners of chronically infected HBV donors who were positive for HBV DNA, including five samples (9.3%) with OBIs, of which 3 (3/54, 5.6%, 1 in 70 921 donations) passed the routine blood screening tests. Seven of the 10 HBV-DNA-positive couples contracted the virus possibly through sexual or close contact. Among infected couples, immune escape mutations were observed. A high prevalence of OBIs was found among the partners of chronically infected HBV blood donors, posing a potential threat to blood safety.
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Doadores de Sangue , Segurança do Sangue , Hepatite B , Cônjuges , Segurança do Sangue/estatística & dados numéricos , Hepatite B/epidemiologia , Hepatite B/prevenção & controle , Hepatite B/transmissão , Cônjuges/estatística & dados numéricos , Prevalência , China/epidemiologia , Doadores de Sangue/estatística & dados numéricos , Vírus da Hepatite B , Humanos , Masculino , Feminino , Adulto Jovem , Adulto , Pessoa de Meia-IdadeRESUMO
Objective: According to the Global Tuberculosis Report for three consecutive years, tuberculosis (TB) is the second leading infectious killer. Primary pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) leads to the highest mortality among TB diseases. Regretfully, no previous studies targeted the PTB of a specific type or in a specific course, so models established in previous studies cannot be accurately feasible for clinical treatments. This study aimed to construct a nomogram prognostic model to quickly recognize death-related risk factors in patients initially diagnosed with PTB to intervene and treat high-risk patients as early as possible in the clinic to reduce mortality. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 1,809 in-hospital patients initially diagnosed with primary PTB at Hunan Chest Hospital from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2019. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify the risk factors. A nomogram prognostic model for mortality prediction was constructed using R software and was validated using a validation set. Results: Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that drinking, hepatitis B virus (HBV), body mass index (BMI), age, albumin (ALB), and hemoglobin (Hb) were six independent predictors of death in in-hospital patients initially diagnosed with primary PTB. Based on these predictors, a nomogram prognostic model was established with high prediction accuracy, of which the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.881 (95% confidence interval [Cl]: 0.777-0.847), the sensitivity was 84.7%, and the specificity was 77.7%.Internal and external validations confirmed that the constructed model fit the real situation well. Conclusion: The constructed nomogram prognostic model can recognize risk factors and accurately predict the mortality of patients initially diagnosed with primary PTB. This is expected to guide early clinical intervention and treatment for high-risk patients.