Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection among patients of a tertiary hospital in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, PR China.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) among patients in Guangzhou city, South China, and to identify susceptible patient populations and analyze the causes of infection differences. METHODS: From May 2020 to May 2022, a total of 637 sera were collected from patients, and 205 sera were collected from health participants as health control. All sera were examined by colloidal gold kits to detect the positivity of antibodies against T. gondii. And the positivity of antibodies in sera was confirmed with ARCHITECT i2000SR system. RESULTS: The prevalence of T. gondii infection in patients was 7.06% (45/637), which was lower than the prevalence in health participants 4.88% (10/205). Among patients, 34 (5.34%) were positive only for IgG, 10 (1.57%) were only for IgM, and 1 (0.16%) was positive for both IgG and IgM. There was a significant difference in prevalence between male and female patients, but not among different age groups or diseases groups. The prevalence of T. gondii infection in diseases groups varied. The prevalence was relatively high in patients with the disorders of thyroid gland and the malignant neoplasms of digestive organs, which suggests that caution should be taken to avoid T. gondii infection in these patients. Surprisingly, the prevalence was quite low in diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBC) patients. This may be due to the overexpression of TNF-α in tumor tissues of DLBC patients and the higher protein level of TNF-α in sera of DLBC patients. CONCLUSION: This study provides a systematic exploration of the prevalence of T. gondii infection in patients in a tertiary hospital. Our data contributes to a better understanding of the epidemic investigation of T. gondii among patients in South China, which can help the prevention and treatment of the disease caused by T. gondii infection.

[Screening and Enzyme Production Characteristics of Thermophilic Cellulase-producing Strains].

A total of 6 thermophilic cellulase-producing strainswere isolated from organic garden waste mixed chicken composting at thermophilic period. These isolates were identified as Streptomyces thermoviolaceus, S. thermodiastaticus, S. thermocarboxydus, S. albidoflavus, S. thermovulgaris and Brevibacillus borstelensis through 16S rRNA gene sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree analysis. The cellulose-degrading microbial community has been investigated in few researches so far both at home and abroad. In this study, the mixed strains M-1 was made up of the 6 cellulose-decomposing microorganisms. The CMCase activity of the mixed strains M- 1 was stronger than any of the 6 single strains. Production of CMCase from mixed strains M-1 was studied by optimizing different physico-chemical parameters. The Maximum CMCase production (135.9 U · mL⁻¹) of strains M-1 was achieved at 45 °C in a liquid medium (pH 4) inoculated with 1% (volume fraction), containing a mixture of wheat bran and starch, corn flour and KNO3. After optimization of separation conditions, CMCase production capacity was improved by 1.8 times.

[Isolation and characterization of two bacteria with heavy metal resistance and phosphate solubilizing capability].

Two phosphate solubilizing bacteria (T PSB1 and T PSB 2) with high heavy metal resistance were isolated from soil of a lead-zinc mine in Huayuan of Hunan Province, China. These two bacteria were identified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Burkholderia gladioli by 16S rRNA sequencing analysis, respectively. In the media containing insoluble inorganic calcium phosphate, the soluble phosphate amounts reached respectively 402.9 mg x L(-1) and 589.9 mg x L(-1) with the bacteria T PSB1 and T PSB2 after two weeks' growth. Moreover, the two bacteria developed solubilizing halos on the plates supplemented with the organic phosphate compounds, and the resulting soluble phosphate amounts in the broth media were respectively 2.97 mg x L(-1) and 4.69 mg x L(-1). In addition, these two bacteria showed the resistance to up to 2000 mg x L(-1) Zn2+, and their phosphate solubilizing amounts reached respectively 114.8 mg x L(-1) and 125.1 mg x L(-1). Similarly, their heavy metal resistance and phosphate solubilizing ability were also found in the Cr and Pb broth media with the concentration of 1000 mg x L(-1). In the Pb media, the soluble phosphate amounts reached respectively 57.9 mg x L(-1) and 71.7 mg x L(-1), and the soluble P amounts in the Cr media were 60.1 mg x L(-1) and 98.4 mg x L(-1) at the concentration of 1000 mg x L(-1).

[Effect of arbuscular mycorrhizae on growth, heavy metal uptake and accumulation of Zenia insignis Chun seedlings].

To solve the trace metal pollution of a Pd/Zn mine in Hunan province, a greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of two arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Glomus mosseae (Gm) and Glomus intraradices (Gi), on the growth, heavy metal uptake and accumulation of Zenia insignis Chun, the pioneer plant there. The results showed that symbiotic associations were successfully established between the two isolates and Z. insignis in heavy metal contaminated soil. AM fungi improved P absorption, biomass and changed heavy metal uptake and distribution of Z. insignis. AM fungi-inoculated plants had significantly lower Fe, Cu, Zn, Pd concentrations and higher Fe, Cu, Zn, Pd accumulation than non-inoculated plants. However, Gm and Gi showed different mycorrhizal effects on the distribution of heavy metal in hosts, depending on the species of heavy metal. Gi-inoculated Z. insignis showed significantly lower TF values of Fe, Zn, Pd than Gm and non-inoculated plants, while both strains had no effect on TF value of Cu, which indicated that Gi enhanced trace metal accumulation in root system, playing a filtering/sequestering role in the presence of trace metals. The overall results demonstrated that AM fungi had positive effect on Z. insignis in enhancing the ability to adapt the heavy metal contaminated soil and played potential role in the revegetation of heavy metal contaminated soil. But in practical application, the combination of AM, hosts and heavy metal should be considered.