Diversity of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in Shandong, China.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is one of the most economically significant pathogens in swine industry of China. To study infection and genetic variation of PRRSV, 637 tissue samples were collected from diseased pigs in Shandong, and then subjected to detection of PRRSV. The nsp2 and ORF5 genes were sequenced for investigation of variations and phylogenetic analysis. The results showed that positive rate of PRRSV was 9.58% in the collected samples. Phylogenetic analysis of GP5 showed that these strains were clustered into two lineages (1 and 8) indicating different genotypes of PRRSV were circulating in Shandong province. Meanwhile, sequence analysis Of nsp2 showed that the PRRSV strains with 30 amino acids deletions were dominant. Moreover, novel pattern of recombination/deletion and insertion in nsp2 was observed in these strains, indicating that novel PRRSV strains with different patterns of deletions or insertions in nsp2 are emerging in China. All the results suggested that continuous surveillance of PRRSV in China is warranted. Keywords: PRRSV; GP5; nsp2; genetic analysis; Shandong.

[Value of MiR-155 in Prognostic Evaluation of Elderly Patients with Primary Immune Thrombocytopenia].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the value of has-microRNA-155 (miR-155) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) in prognostic evaluation of elderly patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (PITP). METHODS: One hundred and thirty elderly PITP patients and 60 healthy volunteers in our hospital were selected. The relative expression level of miR-155 in PBMNC was detected by RT-PCR. Unconditional logistic multivariate regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between miR-155 expression and prognosis of PITP patients, and Kaplan-Meier was further used to analyze the relationship between miR-155 and PITP recurrence. RESULTS: The relative expression level of miR-155 in PBMNC of elderly PITP patients was significantly higher than that in healthy volunteers, and increased significantly with the severity of the disease (P＜0.05). The overall effective rate of elderly PITP patients with miR-155 low-expression was significantly higher than that in the patients with miR-155 high-expression (96.92% vs 72.31%) by after treatment with glucocorticoid. Multivariate analysis showed that miR-155 was an independent risk factor for PITP patients. Elderly patients with high expression of miR-155 showed a higher risk of recurrence. CONCLUSION: miR-155 in PBMNC has a high accuracy for PITP diagnosis, and the elderly patients with high level of miR-155 show a poor prognosis and a higher risk of recurrence.

[Heavy Metal Contamination of Soils and Crops near a Zinc Smelter].

To evaluate the influence of mining activities on heavy metal contamination and health risks in a zinc-smelting area in Guizhou Province, Pb, Cd, Zn, and Cu in agriculture soils and dominant crops were monitored and analyzed. A single factor pollution index and a comprehensive pollution index were calculated to assess the quality of soils and crops. Furthermore, the potential ecological risks of the four heavy metals in soils and crops were evaluated using the potential ecological risk index (RI). The potential health risks to adults and children induced by the intake of these heavy metals through consumption of crops were evaluated using the hazard quotient (HQ). The results showed that:①The farmlands in the zinc-smelting area were contaminated by heavy metals; the most polluted farm land was corn fields followed by paddy fields and wheat fields. The order of the heavy metal concentrations was Cd > Cu > Zn > Pb. The Nemero index of corn fields was higher than the threshold value of heavy pollution and was higher than that of the paddy and wheat fields. Cd contributed most to the integrated pollution index. ②The very high ecological risk was posed by Cd followed by Pb, Cu, and Zn. The results of the potential ecological risk assessment showed that 1.41% of the sites were classified as low risk, 21.1% classified as medium risk, 35.2% as high risk, and 42.3% as extremely high risk. ③The average concentrations of Pb, Cd, Zn, and Cu in rice were 0.145, 0.017, 16.97, and 2.704 mg·kg-1, respectively. The average concentrations of Pb, Cd, Zn, and Cu in corn were 0.094, 0.055, 26.81, and 4.464 mg·kg-1, respectively. The average concentrations of Pb, Cd, Zn, and Cu in wheat were 0.048, 0.085, 35.37, and 5.426 mg·kg-1, respectively.④Rice, corn, and wheat from the study area were subjected to pollution at different degrees. Among the three crops studied, wheat was polluted most heavily, followed by rice and corn. Contamination levels of rice and corn were safe, whereas the contamination of wheat reached alarming levels. ⑤The daily intake of individual heavy metals from food was below the standard exposure dose set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, the assessment results for the comprehensive health risk index for the three crops indicate that the contamination of heavy metals poses health risks to adults and children by food ingestion. ⑥ Positive correlations were not observed between farmlands and crops.