Near-Infrared Dual Greenhouse Gas Sensor Based on Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber for Gas-Cell In-Situ Applications.

A greenhouse gas sensor has been developed to simultaneously detect multiple gas species within a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber (HC-PBF) structure entirely composed of fibers. To enhance sensitivity, the gas cell consists of HC-PBF enclosed between two single-mode fibers fused with a reflective end surface to double the absorption length. The incorporation of side holes for gas diffusion allows for analysis of the relationship between gas diffusion speed, number of drilled side holes, and energy loss. As the number of drilled holes increases, the response time decreases to less than 3 min at the expense of energy loss. Gas experiments demonstrated detection limits of 0.1 ppm for methane and 2 ppm for carbon dioxide, with an average time of 50 s. In-situ testing conducted in rice fields validates the effectiveness of the developed gas detection system using HC-PBF cells, establishing all-fiber sensors with high sensitivity and rapid response.

Epidemiological characteristics and risk factors for cystic and alveolar echinococcosis in China: an analysis of a national population-based field survey.

BACKGROUND: Human cystic and alveolar echinococcosis are neglected tropical diseases that WHO has prioritized for control in recent years. Both diseases impose substantial burdens on public health and the socio-economy in China. In this study, which is based on the national echinococcosis survey from 2012 to 2016, we aim to describe the spatial prevalence and demographic characteristics of cystic and alveolar echinococcosis infections in humans and assess the impact of environmental, biological and social factors on both types of the disease. METHODS: We computed the sex-, age group-, occupation- and education level-specific prevalences of cystic and alveolar echinococcosis at national and sub-national levels. We mapped the geographical distribution of echinococcosis prevalence at the province, city and county levels. Finally, by analyzing the county-level echinococcosis cases combined with a range of associated environmental, biological and social factors, we identified and quantified the potential risk factors for echinococcosis using a generalized linear model. RESULTS: A total of 1,150,723 residents were selected and included in the national echinococcosis survey between 2012 and 2016, of whom 4161 and 1055 tested positive for cystic and alveolar echinococcosis, respectively. Female gender, older age, occupation at herdsman, occupation as religious worker and illiteracy were identified as risk factors for both types of echinococcosis. The prevalence of echinococcosis was found to vary geographically, with areas of high endemicity observed in the Tibetan Plateau region. Cystic echinococcosis prevalence was positively correlated with cattle density, cattle prevalence, dog density, dog prevalence, number of livestock slaughtered, elevation and grass area, and negatively associated with temperature and gross domestic product (GDP). Alveolar echinococcosis prevalence was positively correlated with precipitation, level of awareness, elevation, rodent density and rodent prevalence, and negatively correlated with forest area, temperature and GDP. Our results also implied that drinking water sources are significantly associated with both diseases. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide a comprehensive understanding of geographical patterns, demographic characteristics and risk factors of cystic and alveolar echinococcosis in China. This important information will contribute towards developing targeted prevention measures and controlling diseases from the public health perspective.

Prevalence trend and burden of neglected parasitic diseases in China from 1990 to 2019: findings from global burden of disease study.

Objective: This study sought to investigate the parasitic diseases of neglected tropical diseases defined by the World Health Organization based on the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) database. Importantly, we analyzed the prevalence and burden of these diseases in China from 1990 to 2019 to provide valuable information to formulate more effective measures for their management and prevention. Methods: Data on the prevalence and burden of neglected parasitic diseases in China from 1990 to 2019 were extracted from the global health data exchange (GHDx) database, including the absolute number of prevalence, age-standardized prevalence rate, disability-adjusted life year (DALY) and age-standardized DALY rate. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the prevalence and burden changes, sex and age distribution of various parasitic diseases from 1990 to 2019. A time series model [Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA)] was used to predict the DALYs of neglected parasitic diseases in China from 2020 to 2030. Results: In 2019, the number of neglected parasitic diseases in China was 152518062, the age-standardized prevalence was 11614.1 (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 8758.5-15244.5), the DALYs were 955722, and the age-standardized DALY rate was 54.9 (95% UI 26.0-101.8). Among these, the age-standardized prevalence of soil-derived helminthiasis was the highest (9370.2/100,000), followed by food-borne trematodiases (1502.3/100,000) and schistosomiasis (707.1/100,000). The highest age-standardized DALY rate was for food-borne trematodiases (36.0/100,000), followed by cysticercosis (7.9/100,000) and soil-derived helminthiasis (5.6/100,000). Higher prevalence and disease burden were observed in men and the upper age group. From 1990 to 2019, the number of neglected parasitic diseases in China decreased by 30.4%, resulting in a decline in DALYs of 27.3%. The age-standardized DALY rates of most diseases were decreased, especially for soil-derived helminthiasis, schistosomiasis and food-borne trematodiases. The ARIMA prediction model showed that the disease burden of echinococcosis and cysticercosis exhibited an increasing trend, highlighting the need for further prevention and control. Conclusion: Although the prevalence and disease burden of neglected parasitic diseases in China have decreased, many issues remain to be addressed. More efforts should be undertaken to improve the prevention and control strategies for different parasitic diseases. The government should prioritize multisectoral integrated control and surveillance measures to prioritize the prevention and control of diseases with a high burden of disease. In addition, the older adult population and men need to pay more attention.

Chinese expert consensus on interventional diagnosis and management of acquired digestive-respiratory tract fistulas (second edition).

Acquired digestive-respiratory tract fistulas occur with abnormal communication between the respiratory tract and digestive tract caused by a variety of benign or malignant diseases, leading to the alimentary canal contents in the respiratory tract. Although various departments have been actively exploring advanced fistula closure techniques, including surgical methods and multimodal therapy, some of which have gotten good clinical effects, there are few large-scale evidence-based medical data to guide clinical diagnosis and treatment. The guidelines update the etiology, classification, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and management of acquired digestive-respiratory tract fistulas. It has been proved that the implantation of the respiratory and digestive stent is the most important and best treatment for acquired digestive-respiratory tract fistulas. The guidelines conduct an in-depth review of the current evidence and introduce in detail the selection of stents, implantation methods, postoperative management and efficacy evaluation.

The imaging features and prognosis of gliomas involving the subventricular zone: An MRI study.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: As the largest concentrated region of neural stem cells in the adult brain, the subventricular zone (SVZ) is considered to have a close relationship with the origin of gliomas. An in-depth study of the characteristic manifestations associated with SVZ involvement in glioma may provide new ideas for individualized diagnosis and treatment of this fatal disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All 279 patients with glioma who underwent surgical treatment in our department from January 2016 to December 2021 were included. Clinical and imaging data were collected, and telephonic follow-up was conducted to analyze the overall survival and progression-free survival. Prognostic factors including SVZ involvement on glioblastoma patients' survival were analyzed. Next, the relationship between SVZ involvement, a set of unique imaging features and gene status were determined respectively. The chi-squared test, logistics regression, and Cox regression were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The patients were divided into the SVZ involvement group (n = 198, 70.97 %) and SVZ non-involvement group (n = 81, 29.03 %). The median overall survival and progression-free survival were 13 months and 7 months for the SVZ involvement group, but 25 months and 17 months for the SVZ non-involvement group, respectively. In multivariate Cox survival analysis, MRI SVZ involvement proved an independent risk factor for the survival of patients with glioblastoma. The patients with SVZ involvement sign had a lower rate of cystic lesion (32.32 % vs. 48.48 %, p = 0.029), and a larger mean maximum diameter (5.88 ± 1.28 vs. 3.28 ± 1.65 cm). Compared with high grade gliomas (HGG), T1 enhancement (25.25 % vs. 10.42 %, p = 0.041) and homogeneous signal on T2WI (14.14 % vs. 43.75 %, p = 0.025) were independently associated with SVZ involvement in WHO grade 2 gliomas(LGG). In the gene status analysis, the SVZ involvement group showed the lower rate of MGMT promoter methylation (57.58 % vs. 79.17 %, p = 0.017). CONCLUSION: SVZ involvement in MRI at diagnosis is an independent negative prognostic indicator for the survival of glioblastoma patients. Some image signs are associated with SVZ involvement in HGG and LGG respectively. The unique imaging and gene features of gliomas with SVZ involvement indicate that this kind of tumor maybe a unique subgroup of gliomas.

Societal drivers of human echinococcosis in China.

BACKGROUND: Echinococcosis is a parasitic zoonotic disease that threatens human health and economic development. In China, 370 counties are endemic for echinococcosis. Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has the most patients and people at risk. Therefore, analyzing the societal factors related to susceptibility to the disease is critical for efficient prevention and control of echinococcosis. METHODS: The demographic characteristics and lifestyle of echinococcosis cases were clustered using K-means cluster analysis to determine the main factors of risk of echinococcosis. RESULTS: Middle-aged and young people as well as those with a low education level and herdsmen are at risk of contracting echinococcosis. Nomadism, domestic and feral dogs in the surrounding environment, and drinking heavily polluted natural surface water are the main behavioral risk factors. The cystic echinococcosis (CE) and alveolar echinococcosis (AE) cluster analysis focused on female, middle-aged, and young people, winter settlement and summer nomadism, and domestic and feral dogs in the surrounding environment. There were significant differences in lifestyle between Qinghai-Tibet Plateau cases and non-Qinghai-Tibet-Plateau cases. CONCLUSION: According to the distribution of cases and CE and AE, this study identified the factors of risk of echinococcosis in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and non-Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Adapted control techniques appropriate for the various epidemic areas should be established to serve as a reference for echinococcosis prevention.

Prevalence and spatial distribution characteristics of human echinococcosis in China.

BACKGROUND: Echinococcosis is a zoonotic parasitic disease caused by larval stages of cestodes belonging to the genus Echinococcus. The infection affects people's health and safety as well as agropastoral sector. In China, human echinococcosis is a major public health burden, especially in western China. Echinococcosis affects people health as well as agricultural and pastoral economy. Therefore, it is important to understand the prevalence status and spatial distribution of human echinococcosis in order to advance our knowledge of basic information for prevention and control measures reinforcement. METHODS: Report data on echinococcosis were collected in 370 counties in China in 2018 and were used to assess prevalence and spatial distribution. SPSS 21.0 was used to obtain the prevalence rate for CE and AE. For statistical analyses and mapping, all data were processed using SPSS 21.0 and ArcGIS 10.4, respectively. Chi-square test and Exact probability method were used to assess spatial autocorrelation and spatial clustering. RESULTS: A total of 47,278 cases of echinococcosis were recorded in 2018 in 370 endemic counties in China. The prevalence rate of human echinococcosis was 10.57 per 10,000. Analysis of the disease prevalence showed obvious spatial positive autocorrelation in globle spatial autocorrelation with two aggregation modes in local spatial autocorrelation, namely high-high and low-high aggregation areas. The high-high gathering areas were mainly concentrated in northern Tibet, western Qinghai, and Ganzi in the Tibetan Autonomous Region and in Sichuan. The low-high clusters were concentrated in Gamba, Kangma and Yadong counties of Tibet. In addition, spatial scanning analysis revealed two spatial clusters. One type of spatial clusters included 71 counties in Tibet Autonomous Region, 22 counties in Qinghai, 11 counties in Sichuan, three counties in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, two counties in Yunnan, and one county in Gansu. In the second category, six types of spatial clusters were observed in the counties of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan Provinces. CONCLUSION: This study showed a serious prevalence of human echinococcosis with obvious spatial aggregation of the disease prevalence in China. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the "hot spot" area of human echinococcosis in China. Findings from this study indicate that there is an urgent need of joint strategies to strengthen efforts for the prevention and control of echinococcosis in China, especially in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The pathology, phylogeny, and epidemiology of Echinococcus ortleppi (G5 genotype): a new case report of echinococcosis in China.

BACKGROUND: Cystic echinococcosis (CE), caused by the larval stage of the complex Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato (s.l.), is a zoonotic parasitic disease with a high social burden in China. E. ortleppi is a species (formerly genotype 5 of E. granulosus s.l.) with unique epidemic areas (tropical areas), transmission patterns (mainly cattle origin), and pathological characteristics (large and small hook lengths) compared to other species that cause CE. A 19-year-old female patient in an area with no history of echinococcosis in Guizhou Province, China, was diagnosed with E. ortleppi infection in 2019. This study is to understand the source of this human E. ortleppi infection. METHODS: We performed computer tomography (CT) scans, surgical operation, morphological sectioning, molecular diagnosis, phylogenetic analyses, and epidemiological investigation in Anshun City, Guizhou Province, China in 2019. RESULTS: The patient presented with intermittent distension and pain in the upper abdomen without other abnormal symptoms. Routine blood examination results were normal. However, abdominal CT revealed a fertile cyst with a diameter of approximately 8 cm, uniform density, and a clear boundary, but without an evident cyst wall in the right lobe of the liver. The cyst was fertile, and phylogenetic analyses revealed that the isolates represented a new E. ortleppi genus haplotype. A result of 10‒14 years incubation period with indigenous infection was considered available for the case through the epidemiological survey. CONCLUSIONS: CE due to E. ortleppi infection can be confused with other diseases causing liver cysts, resulting in misdiagnosis. A transmission chain of E. ortleppi may exist or existed in the past in the previously considered non-endemic areas of echinococcosis in southwestern China.

Geographical Detector-based influence factors analysis for Echinococcosis prevalence in Tibet, China.

Echinococcosis, caused by genus Echinococcus, is the most pathogenic zoonotic parasitic disease in the world. In Tibet of the People's Republic of China, echinococcosis refers principally to two types of severe zoonosis, cystic echinococcosis (CE) and alveolar echinococcosis (AE), which place a serious burden on public health and economy in the local community. However, research on the spatial epidemiology of echinococcosis remains inadequate in Tibet, China. Based on the recorded human echinococcosis data, maps of the spatial distribution of human CE and AE prevalence in Tibet were produced at city level and county level respectively, which show that the prevalence of echinococcosis in northern and western Tibet was much higher than that in other regions. We employ a geographical detector to explore the influencing factors for causing CE and AE while sorting information on the maps of disease prevalence and environment factors (e.g. terrain, population, and yak population). The results of our analysis showed that biological factors have the most impact on the prevalence of echinococcosis, of which the yak population contributes the most for CE, while the dog population contributes the most for AE. In addition, the interaction between various factors, as we found out, might further explain the disease prevalence, which indicated that the echinococcosis prevalence is not simply affected by one single factor, but by multiple factors that are correlated with each other complicatedly. Our results will provide an important reference for the evaluation of the echinococcosis risk, control projects, and prevention programs in Tibet.

Bone marrow stromal cells reverse the microglia type from pro-inflammatory tumour necrosis factor a microglia to anti-inflammatory CD206 microglia of middle cerebral artery occlusion rats through triggering secretion of CX3CL1.

The middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model has been extensively applied to study ischaemic stroke. This study attempted to clarify effect of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) on infarct injury of MCAO rats. BMSCs were isolated and identified by staining CD29/CD44 and CD31/CD45. CX3CL1 silencing vector (pLVX-shRNA-CX3CL1) was generated and infected to BMSCs. pLVX-shRNA-CX3CL1 infected BMSCs were transplanted into brain tissue of MCAO rats. Real-time PCR was used to determine CX3CL1 expression. Infarct areas were stained with TTC to evaluate infarct size. Double-staining immunofluorescence was conducted to determine anti-inflammatory type CD206 and pro-inflammatory type tumour necrosis factor a (TNF-a) microglia. Isolated BMSCs were positively presented for CD29/CD44, and negatively for CD31/CD45. CX3CL1 was significantly lower in the BMSC + pLVX-shRNA2-CX3-CL1 group compared to the BMSCs + pLVX group (p < 0.05). According to TTC and neurological scores, MCAO rats were successfully generated. BMSCs transplantation significantly increased CD206 microglia and decreased TNF-a microglia. However, shRNA-CX3CL1-infected BMSCs remarkably reduced CD206 microglia and enhanced TNF-a microglia compared to the MCAO + BMSCs group. In conclusion, BMSCs reverse microglia from pro-inflammatory type TNF-a microglia to anti-inflammatory type CD206 microglia in the infarct region of MCAO rats (3rd to 7th days post BMSC transplantation), through triggering of CX3CL1 secretion. Therefore, the potential effects of CX3CL1 secreted by BMSCs would provide an insight for stem cell-dependent therapeutic strategies in treating ischaemic stroke-associated disorders.

NIR-II-activated biocompatible hollow nanocarbons for cancer photothermal therapy.

Photothermal therapy has attracted extensive attentions in cancer treatment due to its precise spatial-temporal controllability, minimal invasiveness, and negligible side effects. However, two major deficiencies, unsatisfactory heat conversion efficiency and limited tissue penetration depth, hugely impeded its clinical application. In this work, hollow carbon nanosphere modified with polyethylene glycol-graft-polyethylenimine (HPP) was elaborately synthesized. The synthesized HPP owns outstanding physical properties as a photothermal agent, such as uniform core-shell structure, good biocompatibility and excellent heat conversion efficiency. Upon NIR-II laser irradiation, the intracellular HPP shows excellent photothermal activity towards cancer cell killing. In addition, depending on the large internal cavity of HPP, the extended biomedical application as drug carrier was also demonstrated. In general, the synthesized HPP holds a great potential in NIR-II laser-activated cancer photothermal therapy.

Advances in research on echinococcoses epidemiology in China.

Echinococcoses are serious zoonotic diseases in China's vast, western and north-western pastoral areas that has one of the highest prevalence in the world. The two most common forms, cystic echinococcosis (CE) and alveolar echinococcosis (AE), are co-epidemic in some areas causing a grave threat to people's health and economic development. Echinococcus spp. are transmitted through domestic, sylvatic and mixed cycles involving many kinds of host. Successful transmission requires a favourable environment for the growth of the parasites and survival of their eggs, while the unique customs and religious beliefs in the endemic areas pose a challenge to the prevention and control of these parasites. Based on previous epidemiological studies, this paper reviews the particular factors affecting the transmission of Echinococcus parasites in China, with a focus on biological (parasite genotype and the species, age, sex and density of hosts), environmental (landscape and climate) and social (age, gender, ethnicity, education, occupation, life style, cultural customs, living conditions and hygiene practices of humans in the endemic areas). These three factors interact with each other and jointly determine the parasites' transmission intensity, the study of which supports the formulation of the strategies and measures that are significant for control of these infections.

Evaluation of fecal immunoassays for canine Echinococcus infection in China.

Human echinococcosis is present worldwide but it is in China that disease prevalence is the highest. In western China, especially in the Tibetan Plateau, the burden of echinococcosis is the most important. Dogs are a major definitive host of Echinococcus and monitoring the presence of Echinococcus worms in dogs is therefore essential to efficiently control the disease. Detection kits based on three different technologies including sandwich ELISA, (indirect) ELISA, and gold immunodiffusion, are currently marketed and used in China. The objective of this work was to assess the efficacy of these kits, in particular with respect to sensitivity and specificity. Four fecal antigen detection kits for canine infection reflecting the three technologies were obtained from companies and tested in parallel on 220 fecal samples. The results indicate that the performance is lower than expected, in particular in terms of sensitivity. The best results were obtained with the sandwich ELISA technology. The gold immunofiltration yielded the poorest results. In all cases, further development is needed to improve the performance of these kits which are key components for the control of echinococcosis.

Factors influencing the spatial distribution of cystic echinococcosis in Tibet, China.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE), which is caused by Echinococcus granulosus, is a worldwide helminthozoonosis that is highly endemic in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and has important public health and economic impacts. However, the spatial epidemiological characteristics of CE in Tibet are still unclear. Based on recorded human CE cases and the use of a geographic information system, the spatial distribution patterns of CE prevalence at three different scales were analyzed. In addition, a spatial agglomeration map of CE prevalence was generated based on cold/hot spot analysis. By combining maps of environmental and biological covariates with information about known human CE cases, the links between CE prevalence and relevant covariates were explored, revealing that the annual average precipitation, elevation, water accessibility and animal population (dog and yak) were associated with the prevalence of CE at the significance level of P < 0.05. Our results provide a novel insight and better understanding of the current situation of and the factors influencing CE in Tibet, which can help public health authorities develop disease prevention and control strategies.

Electrodeposition of Aluminum Coatings from AlCl3-NaCl-KCl Molten Salts with TMACl and NaI Additives.

The Al coatings achieved via electrodeposition on a Cu electrode from AlCl3-NaCl-KCl (80-10-10 wt.%) molten salts electrolyte with Tetramethylammonium Chloride (TMACl) and Sodium Iodide (NaI) additives is reported. The effect of the two additives on electrodeposition were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronopotentiometry (CP), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Results reveal that compact and smooth Al coatings are obtained at 150 °C by the electrodeposition process from the electrolyte with 1% TMACl and 10% NaI. The Al coatings exhibit great corrosion resistance close to that of pure Al plate, with a corrosion current of 3.625 µA. The average particle size is approximately 2 ± 1 µm and the average thickness of the Al layer is approximately 7 ± 2 µm. The nucleation/growth process exhibits irrelevance with TMACl or NaI during the electrodeposition of Al. TMACl cannot affect and improve the electrodeposition effectively. However, the addition of TMACl and NaI can intensify the cathodic polarization, producing an inhibition of Al deposition, and contribute to form uniform Al deposits. This can increase the conductivity and facilitate in refining the size of Al particles, contributing to forming a continuous, dense and uniform layer of Al coating, which can be used as effective additives in molten salts electrolyte.

Effects of miR-432 and miR-548c-3p on the proliferation and invasion of osteosarcoma cells.

PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of miR-432 and miR-548c-3p on the proliferation and invasion of osteosarcoma cells. METHODS: A total of 67 cases of patients with osteosarcoma who came to the third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University from April 2015 to May 2018 formed the experimental group, and 63 healthy individuals who came to this hospital for physical examination during the same period formed the control group. The expressions of miR-432 and miR-548c-3p in sera of each group were detected by RT-PCR to observe the changes of the expression levels of these miRs in the sera of the experimental and the control group, and the relationship between the expression levels of these miRs in the sera of patients with osteosarcoma and the grade of tumor differentiation and different pathological classification. GM-63 cells were selected as the target for in vitro experiments which were cultured and transfected. Before transfection, cells were divided into blank group (without transfection), negative control group (transfected with miR NC) and experimental group (transfected with miR-432 mimics/miR-548c-3p mimics). Cell proliferation was detected by CCK-8 method, cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry, and cell invasion by transwell invasion experiment. RESULTS: miR-423 and miR-548c-3p showed low expression in osteosarcoma, and the overexpression of miR-432 and miR-548c-3p in osteosarcoma cells could inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells and promote their apoptosis. miR-432 and miR-548c-3p might be tumor suppressors of osteosarcoma, and their expression levels could be used as important reference indexes to evaluate the benign and malignant levels of osteosarcoma. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that the abnormal expressions of miR-432 and miR-548c-3p may be key factors of the occurrence and development of osteosarcoma.

Hyaluronic acid predicts poor prognosis in breast cancer patients: A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis.

BACKGROUND: Hyaluronic acid (HA) may be a novel prognostic biomarker of breast cancer. However, the available evidence is controversial. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to determine the prognostic role of HA in breast cancer. METHODS: The data were extracted from seven articles by searching the databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang data for the prognostic role of HA in breast cancer. In reference to survival outcomes, the pooled hazard ratios (HRs) of HA were calculated given a 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: A total of seven articles were included in our study involving 2664 cases. The result of meta-analysis showed that a high HA level predicts poor overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.86, 95% CI: 1.28-2.71, P = .001) and shortened disease-free or recurrence-free survival or progression free survival (DFS/RFS/PFS) (HR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.14-2.33, P = .007) in breast cancer patients. Moreover, a high HA level in stroma (HR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.06-2.51, P = .025) and plasma (HR = 3.26, 95% CI: 2.25-4.73, P < .001) significantly predicted poor OS. Besides, a tendency shows that HA was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (HR = 1.55, 95% CI: 0.96-2.49, P = .070) and tumor grade (HR = 2.10, 95% CI: 0.89-4.96, P = .089) on the clinical characteristics of patients. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that HA has a potential to be prognostic biomarker in breast cancer patients, especially location in stroma and plasma.

Contribution to the echinococcosis control programme in China by NIPD-CTDR.

As a zoonotic parasitosis caused by the parasitism of Echinococcus larvae, echinococcosis imposes serious disease and economic burdens on human beings and society, and is thus a global public health issue. Its complex life history, wide distribution, the combined influence of various epidemic factors, coupled with the unique natural environment, customs, and religious beliefs in endemic areas, pose a huge challenge to the national echinococcosis control programme in China. Accurate early detection and confirmation of diagnosis of echinococcosis, the use of effective drugs, real-time surveillance of the infection status of populations and various hosts, controlling the source of infection, and blocking the route of transmission are of enormous significance for control. In this paper, the work by NIPD-CTDR on the prevention and control of echinococcosis in China is reviewed, with a view to providing reference for the further promotion of the national echinococcosis control programme.

Construction and application of surveillance and response systems for parasitic diseases in China, led by NIPD-CTDR.

Parasitic diseases have been widely epidemic in China with a long history. Great endeavours made in past 70 years led to significant decrease in morbidity and mortablity caused by several major parasitic diseases, while challenges existed to eliminate parasitic diseases. Surveillance-response system has play a crucial role in identifying public health problems, ascertaining the distribution and epidemic dynamics, discovering outbreaks and epidemic anomalies, evaluating the effects of on-site intervention activities and identifying risk factors. In this article, we reviewed the progress of the surveillance system for parasitic diseases, analysed the role of NIPD in the construction and application of surveillance-response system of parasitic diseases through elaborating the surveillance activities and typical surveillance-response events led by NIPD. Suggestion and comments for improve the surveillance-response system were put forward for further control or elimination of parasitic diseases.

The effects of dog management on Echinococcus spp. prevalence in villages on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China.

BACKGROUND: The pastoral area of the eastern Tibetan Plateau is highly endemic for human echinococcosis. Domestic dogs are the main definitive host for the transmission of both Echinococcus granulosus (sensu lato) and E. multilocularis to humans. To control the infection risks, a national-level canine echinococcosis prevention and control programme has been implemented since 2015 in Shiqu County, Ganze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China. The objective of this study was to evaluate its effect on Echinococcus spp. prevalence in dogs. METHODS: We surveyed 69 households with 84 owned dogs, for dog fecal samples and dog keeping information in the villages of Rizha and Eduoma. A total of 105 dog fecal samples (75 from owned dogs and 30 unknown dog fecal samples) were collected between 2015-2017 to determine Echinococcus spp. prevalence using copro-PCR. Eight variables based on household surveys were included into a logistic regression model for significant risk factors to canine echinococcosis prevalence in dogs. RESULTS: Between 2015-2017, the overall Echinococcus spp. copro-DNA prevalence decreased significantly in dogs from 51.2% (2015) to 20.0% (2017) in Rizha, and insignificantly from 11.5% (2016) to 4.3% (2017) in Eduoma. Echinococcus multilocularis was the most prevalent species continually copro-DNA detected during the entire study period, while E. granulosus was rare and not detected in 2017. Echinococcus shiquicus copro-DNA prevalence (a probable non-zoonotic wildlife species) was as high in dogs as that of E. multilocularis, although only detected in 2015 in Rizha. Unleashed dog feces were mainly collected in Rizha in 2015. Although 93.2% of owned dogs were leashed, and the monthly praziquantel dosing rate reached 97%, E. multilocularis infection could still be detected in 11.1% of owned dogs in 2017. Monthly deworming, leashing dogs 24 h per day, and the avoidance of dogs feeding on livestock viscera were significant measures to prevent canine echinococcosis infection in owned dogs. CONCLUSIONS: Carrying out a canine echinococcosis prevention and control programme can significantly decrease Echinococcus spp. prevalence. The potential contact between leashed dogs and wild small mammals is still a risk for re-infection of owned dogs with E. multilocularis. This study shows that the long-term application of regular dog treatment with praziquantel in the vast and remote echinococcosis endemic areas of the eastern Tibetan Plateau can reduce transmission in dogs but remains a challenging intervention.