Influenza A(H7N9) Virus Antibody Responses in Survivors 1 Year after Infection, China, 2017.

Avian influenza A(H7N9) virus has caused 5 epidemic waves in China since its emergence in 2013. We investigated the dynamic changes of antibody response to this virus over 1 year postinfection in 25 patients in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China, who had laboratory-confirmed infections during the fifth epidemic wave, October 1, 2016-February 14, 2017. Most survivors had relatively robust antibody responses that decreased but remained detectable at 1 year. Antibody response was variable; several survivors had low or undetectable antibody titers. Hemagglutination inhibition titer was >1:40 for <40% of the survivors. Measured in vitro in infected mice, hemagglutination inhibition titer predicted serum protective ability. Our findings provide a helpful serologic guideline for identifying subclinical infections and for developing effective vaccines and therapeutics to counter H7N9 virus infections.

Z-ligustilide isolated from Radix Angelicae sinensis ameliorates the memory impairment induced by scopolamine in mice.

We investigated the effect of Z-ligustilide (LIG) on scopolamine-induced memory impairment in ICR mice. LIG (2.5-40 mg/kg) or tacrine (10 mg/kg) was orally administrated for 26 days. Behavior was examined in the Morris water maze and Y-maze after scopolamine administration (2 mg/kg, i.p.). The central acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activities were assessed spectrophotometrically. LIG significantly improved spatial long-term memory and short-term memory impairment, inhibited AChE activity and increased ChAT activity. Moreover, LIG and tacrine showed the comparable efficacy in both neurobehavioral and cholinergic evaluation. These data suggest that LIG may alleviate memory deficits probably via enhancing cholinergic function.