Is simply washing hands before dialysis procedures sufficient for reducing peritoneal dialysis peritonitis?-A single center study from 2015 to 2020 in Yiwu, China.

INTRODUCTION: The study aimed to improve the qualified rate of hand hygiene and reduce the incidence of peritonitis in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. METHODS: A hand hygiene questionnaire was distributed to patients during home visits and outpatient visits in 2015 and 2020. Hand-washing practices were evaluated by collecting cultures from the hands of patients after hand washing, evaluating their household environment, and recording the antimicrobial resistance of pathogenic bacteria. RESULTS: Compared to patients in 2015, patients in 2020 had fewer errors in hand washing (p < 0.05), but the rate of qualification after hand washing was lower (p < 0.01). Furthermore, patients who used hand disinfectants after washing had a higher qualified rate. Coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CNS) was the most common isolated bacteria. From 2015 to 2020, the annual incidence of CNS PD peritonitis did not decrease, while the proportion of methicillin-resistant CNS decreased. CONCLUSION: The use of hand disinfectants after standard hand washing may help reduce the incidence of peritonitis in PD patients.

Complete chloroplast genomes of Zingiber montanum and Zingiber zerumbet: Genome structure, comparative and phylogenetic analyses.

Zingiber montanum (Z. montanum) and Zingiber zerumbet (Z. zerumbet) are important medicinal and ornamental herbs in the genus Zingiber and family Zingiberaceae. Chloroplast-derived markers are useful for species identification and phylogenetic studies, but further development is warranted for these two Zingiber species. In this study, we report the complete chloroplast genomes of Z. montanum and Z. zerumbet, which had lengths of 164,464 bp and 163,589 bp, respectively. These genomes had typical quadripartite structures with a large single copy (LSC, 87,856-89,161 bp), a small single copy (SSC, 15,803-15,642 bp), and a pair of inverted repeats (IRa and IRb, 29,393-30,449 bp). We identified 111 unique genes in each chloroplast genome, including 79 protein-coding genes, 28 tRNAs and 4 rRNA genes. We analyzed the molecular structures, gene information, amino acid frequencies, codon usage patterns, RNA editing sites, simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and long repeats from the two chloroplast genomes. A comparison of the Z. montanum and Z. zerumbet chloroplast genomes detected 489 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 172 insertions/deletions (indels). Thirteen highly divergent regions, including ycf1, rps19, rps18-rpl20, accD-psaI, psaC-ndhE, psbA-trnK-UUU, trnfM-CAU-rps14, trnE-UUC-trnT-UGU, ccsA-ndhD, psbC-trnS-UGA, start-psbA, petA-psbJ, and rbcL-accD, were identified and might be useful for future species identification and phylogeny in the genus Zingiber. Positive selection was observed for ATP synthase (atpA and atpB), RNA polymerase (rpoA), small subunit ribosomal protein (rps3) and other protein-coding genes (accD, clpP, ycf1, and ycf2) based on the Ka/Ks ratios. Additionally, chloroplast SNP-based phylogeny analyses found that Zingiber was a monophyletic sister branch to Kaempferia and that chloroplast SNPs could be used to identify Zingiber species. The genome resources in our study provide valuable information for the identification and phylogenetic analysis of the genus Zingiber and family Zingiberaceae.

Complete Chloroplast Genomes of Three Medicinal Alpinia Species: Genome Organization, Comparative Analyses and Phylogenetic Relationships in Family Zingiberaceae.

Alpinia katsumadai (A. katsumadai), Alpinia oxyphylla (A. oxyphylla) and Alpinia pumila (A. pumila), which belong to the family Zingiberaceae, exhibit multiple medicinal properties. The chloroplast genome of a non-model plant provides valuable information for species identification and phylogenetic analysis. Here, we sequenced three complete chloroplast genomes of A. katsumadai, A. oxyphylla sampled from Guangdong and A. pumila, and analyzed the published chloroplast genomes of Alpinia zerumbet (A. zerumbet) and A. oxyphylla sampled from Hainan to retrieve useful chloroplast molecular resources for Alpinia. The five Alpinia chloroplast genomes possessed typical quadripartite structures comprising of a large single copy (LSC, 87,248-87,667 bp), a small single copy (SSC, 15,306-18,295 bp) and a pair of inverted repeats (IR, 26,917-29,707 bp). They had similar gene contents, gene orders and GC contents, but were slightly different in the numbers of small sequence repeats (SSRs) and long repeats. Interestingly, fifteen highly divergent regions (rpl36, ycf1, rps15, rpl22, infA, psbT-psbN, accD-psaI, petD-rpoA, psaC-ndhE, ccsA-ndhD, ndhF-rpl32, rps11-rpl36, infA-rps8, psbC-psbZ, and rpl32-ccsA), which could be suitable for species identification and phylogenetic studies, were detected in the Alpinia chloroplast genomes. Comparative analyses among the five chloroplast genomes indicated that 1891 mutational events, including 304 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 118 insertion/deletions (indels) between A. pumila and A. katsumadai, 367 SNPs and 122 indels between A. pumila and A. oxyphylla sampled from Guangdong, 331 SNPs and 115 indels between A. pumila and A. zerumbet, 371 SNPs and 120 indels between A. pumila and A. oxyphylla sampled from Hainan, and 20 SNPs and 23 indels between the two accessions of A. oxyphylla, were accurately located. Additionally, phylogenetic relationships based on SNP matrix among 28 whole chloroplast genomes showed that Alpinia was a sister branch to Amomum in the family Zingiberaceae, and that the five Alpinia accessions were divided into three groups, one including A. pumila, another including A. zerumbet and A. katsumadai, and the other including two accessions of A. oxyphylla. In conclusion, the complete chloroplast genomes of the three medicinal Alpinia species in this study provided valuable genomic resources for further phylogeny and species identification in the family Zingiberaceae.