Evaluation of disease severity and prediction of severe cases in children hospitalized with influenza A (H1N1) infection during the post-COVID-19 era: a multicenter retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: The rebound of influenza A (H1N1) infection in post-COVID-19 era recently attracted enormous attention due the rapidly increased number of pediatric hospitalizations and the changed characteristics compared to classical H1N1 infection in pre-COVID-19 era. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics and severity of children hospitalized with H1N1 infection during post-COVID-19 period, and to construct a novel prediction model for severe H1N1 infection. METHODS: A total of 757 pediatric H1N1 inpatients from nine tertiary public hospitals in Yunnan and Shanghai, China, were retrospectively included, of which 431 patients diagnosed between February 2023 and July 2023 were divided into post-COVID-19 group, while the remaining 326 patients diagnosed between November 2018 and April 2019 were divided into pre-COVID-19 group. A 1:1 propensity-score matching (PSM) was adopted to balance demographic differences between pre- and post-COVID-19 groups, and then compared the severity across these two groups based on clinical and laboratory indicators. Additionally, a subgroup analysis in the original post-COVID-19 group (without PSM) was performed to investigate the independent risk factors for severe H1N1 infection in post-COIVD-19 era. Specifically, Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression was applied to select candidate predictors, and logistic regression was used to further identify independent risk factors, thus establishing a prediction model. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and calibration curve were utilized to assess discriminative capability and accuracy of the model, while decision curve analysis (DCA) was used to determine the clinical usefulness of the model. RESULTS: After PSM, the post-COVID-19 group showed longer fever duration, higher fever peak, more frequent cough and seizures, as well as higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-10, creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) and fibrinogen, higher mechanical ventilation rate, longer length of hospital stay (LOS), as well as higher proportion of severe H1N1 infection (all P < 0.05), compared to the pre-COVID-19 group. Moreover, age, BMI, fever duration, leucocyte count, lymphocyte proportion, proportion of CD3+ T cells, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and IL-10 were confirmed to be independently associated with severe H1N1 infection in post-COVID-19 era. A prediction model integrating these above eight variables was established, and this model had good discrimination, accuracy, and clinical practicability. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric H1N1 infection during post-COVID-19 era showed a higher overall disease severity than the classical H1N1 infection in pre-COVID-19 period. Meanwhile, cough and seizures were more prominent in children with H1N1 infection during post-COVID-19 era. Clinicians should be aware of these changes in such patients in clinical work. Furthermore, a simple and practical prediction model was constructed and internally validated here, which showed a good performance for predicting severe H1N1 infection in post-COVID-19 era.

[History of heavy metal pollution from tidal flat in Haizhou Bay].

Coastal zone could be considered as an important sink of regional source to sink and preserve historical records of environmental evolution. Four sediment cores, collected from tidal flat at Haizhou Bay near Lianyungang City, were examined for concentrations of heavy metals including Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn in core sediments to investigate the historical input of trace metals. In addition, sediment rates of cores LH3 and LH4 were determined based on radionuclide 210Pb. The results showed that grain size control effect was not the main factor that influenced the distribution of heavy metals. Heavy metals concentrations in the surface sediments were higher than these regional background values. Furthermore, Al element as a proxy of grain size was selected for normalization and calculation of metal enrichment factor (EF) and anthropogenic heavy metal fluxes. The results revealed that heavy metals in tidal flats were continuously enriched in the past decades, meanwhile, tidal flats have been significantly subjected to contaminations due to anthropogenic activities. Moreover, the depth profiles of heavy metals fluxes correspond to scenario of social-economy development of Lianyungang, which is an important urban area near Haizhou Bay. From 1950s to 2005, anthropogenic fluxes of metals increased with fluctuations, whereas, since 2005 anthropogenic fluxes declined, which may be correlated to the adjustment of industrial structure as well as the strengthened environmental regulation.

Epidemiology, genetics and treatments for myopia.

Myopia is a significant public health problem and its prevalence is increasing over time and genetic factors in disease development are important. The prevalence and incidence of myopia within sampled population often varies with age, country, sex, race, ethnicity, occupation, environment, and other factors. Myopia growth is under a combination of genes and their products in time and space to complete the coordination role of the guidance. Myopia-related genes include about 70 genetic loci to which primary myopias have been mapped, although the number is constantly increasing and depends to some extent on definition. Of these, several are associated with additional abnormalities, mostly as part of developmental syndromes. These tend to result from mutations in genes encoding transcriptional activators, and most of these have been identified by sequencing candidate genes in patients with developmental anomalies. Currently, COL1A1 (collagen alpha-1 chain of type I), COL2A1 (collagen alpha-1 chain of type II), ACTC1 (actin, alpha, cardiac muscle 1), PAX6 (paired box gene 6) and NIPBL (nipped-B homolog), and so on have been mapped. Myopia is most commonly treated with spectacles or glasses. The most common surgical procedure performed to correct myopia is laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). This review of the recent advances on epidemiology, genetic locations and treatments of myopia are summarized.

HCV NS2 protein inhibits cell proliferation and induces cell cycle arrest in the S-phase in mammalian cells through down-regulation of cyclin A expression.

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection often leads to liver cancer. NS2 protein is a HCV hydrophobic transmembrane protein that associates with several cellular proteins in mammalian cells. In this report, we investigated the functions of NS2 protein by examining its effects on cell growth and cell cycle progression. Stable NS2-expressing HeLa and Vero cell lines were established by transfection of the cells with pcDNA3.1(-)-NS2 followed by selection of the transfected cells in the presence of G418. We found that the proliferation rates of both NS2-expressing cell lines were inhibited by 40-50% compared with the control cells that were transfected with pcDNA3.1(-) control vector. Cell cycle analysis of these NS2-expressing cell lines shows that the proportion of cells in the S-phase increased significantly compared to that of control cells that do not express NS2 protein, suggesting NS2 protein induces cell cycle arrest in the S-phase. Further studies showed that the induction of cell cycle arrest in the S-phase by NS2 protein is associated with the decrease of cyclin A level. In contrast, the expression of NS2 protein does not affect the levels of cyclin-dependent kinase CDK2, CDK4, cyclin D1, or cyclin E. Our results suggest that HCV NS2 protein inhibits cell growth and induces the cell cycle arrest in the S-phase through down-regulation of cyclin A expression, which may be beneficial to HCV viral replication. Our findings not only provide information in the understanding mechanism of HCV infection, but also provide guidance for the future development of potential therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of the viral infection.

In vitro and in vivo protective effects of proteoglycan isolated from mycelia of Ganoderma lucidum on carbon tetrachloride-induced liver injury.

AIM: To investigate the possible mechanism of the protective effects of a bioactive fraction,Ganoderma lucidum proteoglycan (GLPG) isolated from Ganoderma lucidum mycelia, against carbon tetrachloride-induced liver injury. METHODS: A liver injury model was induced by carbon tetrachloride. Cytotoxicity was measured by MTT assay. The activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were determined with an automatic multifunction-biochemical analyzer and the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD)and TNF-alpha were determined following the instructions of SOD kit and TNF radioimmunoassay kit. Liver sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) for histological evaluation and examined under light microscope. RESULTS: We found that GLPG can alleviate the L-02 liver cells injury induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) through the measurements of ALT and AST activities and the administration of GLPG to L-02 cells did not display any toxicity. Furthermore, histological analysis of mice liver injury induced by CCl4 with or without GLPG pretreatment indicated that GLPG can significantly suppress the toxicity induced by CCl4 in mice liver. We also found that GLPG reduced TNF-alpha level induced by CCl4 in the plasma of mice, whereas increased SOD activity in the rat serum. CONCLUSION: GLPG has hepatic protective activity against CCl4-induced injury both in vitro and in vivo. The possible anti-hepatotoxic mechanisms may be related to the suppression of TNF-alpha level and the free radical scavenging activity.

[The purification of HBV full-length PreS protein in Pichia pastoris].

The Pichia pastoris strain GS115-PreS could produce a high expression level of full-length PreS protein that secreted to the supernatant after methanol induction in the fermentation. The Western blot analysis showed a single band with expected molecular mass of 48kD and that the major component of the particles was the full-length PreS protein (PreS1 + PreS2 + S) and small envelope protein (S) of 48 and 28 kD, respectively. Electron microscopy image showed PreS particles with 30 nm in diameter. The supernatants of the fermentation were desalted and concentrated. Purified PreS protein was obtained by DEAE-SFF anion exchange column chromatography and the PreS particles were obtained by ultracentrifugation and sucrose density gradient. The ELISA assay results proved that both full-length PreS protein and particles showed high immunogenicity and specificity. P/N ratio further demonstrated that the immunogenicity of the particles is higher than the full-length PreS protein.