Trend of Human Schistosomiasis Japonica Prevalence in China from 1990 to 2019.

Schistosomiasis (Schistosomiasis japonica) remains an important public health problem in China, and the Chinese government has set an ambitious goal of eliminating schistosomiasis by 2030. Based on the observational study of the Global Burden of Disease Study database in 2019 (GBD2019) and the World Bank database, this study aimed to analyze the prevalence trend of schistosomiasis in China from 1990 to 2019 by using the joinpoint regression model, and the relationship between economic and social development and schistosomiasis prevalence. The data of age-standardized infection rates (ASRs) from the Global Burden of Disease Study Global Health Data Exchange were collected, and Gross national product per capita (GDP) and people using safely managed sanitation services ((PPMS) % of population) were extracted from the World Bank database. Trends of ASR were analyzed using joinpoint regression analysis, the association of ASR with GDP, and PPMS using the Pearson correlation analysis. The results reveal that, from 1990 to 2019, the overall trend of ASR from schistosomiasis showed a decrease for both sexes, the decreases in men were relatively smaller compared with women. A larger decrease has been observed in the age groups from 15 to 49 years compared with other age groups. The ASR of schistosomiasis had a significant negative correlation with GDP and PPMS. This observational study identified decreasing prevalence rate of schistosomiasis in China since 1990. Continuous investment, optimization of control strategy, and economic development will help to achieve the goal of schistosomiasis elimination.

Impact of the National Wetland Park in the Poyang Lake Area on Oncomelania hupensis, the Intermediate Host of Schistoma japonicum.

In this study, we aimed to understand the influence of ecotourism on the distribution of Oncomelania hupensis and to provide a scientific basis for formulating effective snail control methods in tourism development areas. Poyang Lake National Wetland Park was selected as the pilot area, and sampling surveys were conducted based on comprehensive and detailed investigations of all historical and suspected snail environments according to map data to determine the snail distribution and analyze the impact of tourism development. The results showed that from 2011 to 2021, the positive rates of blood tests and fecal tests tended to decrease among residents of the Poyang Lake area. The positive rates of blood tests and fecal tests in livestock also tended to decrease. The average density of O. hupensis snails decreased, and no schistosomes were detected during infection monitoring in Poyang Lake. The local economy rapidly grew after the development of tourism. The development of ecotourism projects in Poyang Lake National Wetland Park increased the transfer frequency of boats, recreational equipment, and people, but it did not increase the risk of schistosomiasis transmission or the spread of O. hupensis snails. Prevention and monitoring only need to be strengthened in low-endemic schistosomiasis areas to effectively promote economic development due to tourism activities without affecting the health of residents.

A one-pot CRISPR/Cas13a-based contamination-free biosensor for low-cost and rapid nucleic acid diagnostics.

The pandemic due to the outbreak of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has raised significant public health concerns. Rapid, affordable, and accurate diagnostic testing not only paves the way for the effective treatment of diseases, but also plays a crucial role in preventing the spreading of infectious diseases. Herein, a one-pot CRISPR/Cas13a-based visual biosensor was proposed and developed for the rapid and low-cost nucleic acid detection. By combining Cas13a cleavage and Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) in a one-pot reaction in a disposable tube-in-tube vessel, amplicon contamination could be completely avoided. The RPA reaction is carried out in the inner tube containing two hydrophobic holes at the bottom. After the completion of amplification reaction, the reaction solution enters the outer tube containing pre-stored Cas13a reagent under the action of centrifugation or shaking. Inner and outer tubes are combined to form an independent reaction pot to complete the nucleic acid detection without opening the lid. This newly developed nucleic acid detection method not only meets the need of rapid nucleic acid detection at home without the need for any specialized equipment, but also fulfils the requirement of rapid on-site nucleic acid detection with the aid of small automated instruments. In this study, CRISPR/Cas13a and CRISPR/Cas12a were used to verify the reliability of the developed one-pot nucleic acid detection method. The performance of the system was verified by detecting the DNA virus, i.e., African swine fever virus (ASFV) and the RNA virus, i.e., SARS-Cov-2. The results indicate that the proposed method possesses a limit of detection of 3 copy/µL. The negative and positive test results are consistent with the results of real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), but the time required is shorter and the cost is lower. Thus, this study makes this method available in resource-limited areas for the purpose of large-scale screening and in case of epidemic outbreak.

Examining the spatiotemporal variations and inequality of China's provincial CO2 emissions.

Tremendous energy consumption appears as rapid economic development, leading to large amount of CO2 emissions. Although plentiful studies have been made into the driving factors of CO2 emissions, the existing literatures that take the spatial differences and temporal changes into consideration are few. Therefore, this study first analyzes the variations of total CO2 emissions' spatial distribution from 2008 to 2017 and present the changes of driving factors, finding significant spatial autocorrelation in CO2 emissions at the province level, and that urbanization rate, per capita GDP and per capita CO2 emissions increased significantly, but energy consumption structure and trade openness decreased. We then compared the effects of different factors affecting CO2 emissions, using classic linear regression model, panel data model, and the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model, and the three models roughly agree on the effects of factors. The GWR model considering spatial heterogeneity provides more detailed results. Population, urbanization rate, per capita carbon emissions, energy consumption structure, and trade openness all have positive effects, while per capita GDP has a two-way impact on CO2 emissions. The influence of urbanization rate and energy consumption structure in the central and western regions increased even faster than in eastern regions, and the impacts of trade openness in lower and higher opening areas are more significant. The population and per capita CO2 emission have declining influences, among which the influence of population in coastal areas declined more slowly, while the rate of decline of per capita CO2 emission was positively correlated with the local total CO2 emissions. The Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient reveal the inequality distribution of CO2 emissions in various regions, with the highest CO2 emissions growth in the medium-economic-level areas, where the key area of carbon mitigation is. Finally, per capita GDP reveals that China as a whole has the trend of inverted N-shape Kuznets curve, and the underdeveloped regions are in the rising stage between the two inflection points, while developed regions are at the end of the rising stage and about to reach the second inflection point.

Obtaining elevation of Oncomelania Hupensis habitat based on Google Earth and it's accuracy evaluation: an example from the Poyang lake region, China.

Schistosomiasis japonicum is a major zoonosis that seriously harms human health and affects social and economic development in China. The control of Oncomelania Hupensis, the only intermediate host of schistosome japonicum, is one of the integrated measures for schistosomiasis control in China. Acquiring updated elevation data of snail habitat environment, as well as it's spatial analysis, play an important role for the risk evaluation and precise control of schistosomiasis transmission and prevalence. Currently, the elevation database of snail habitat environment in schistosomiasis epidemic areas has not been available in the world, which affects the development of research and application work regarding to snail control. Google Earth(GE) can provide massive information related to topography, geomorphology and ground objects of a region due to its indisputable advantages such as wide use, free charge and rapidly updating. In this paper, taking the Poyang lake region as a example, we extracted elevation data of snail-inhabited environment of the lake from GE and established a elevation correction regression model(CRM) for acquiring accurate geospatial elevations, so as to provide a decision-making reference for snail control and risk evaluation of schistosomiasis in China. We developed a GE Application Programming Interface(API) program to extract elevation data from GE, which was compared with the actual elevation data obtained from topographic map of the Poyang Lake bottom. Then, a correction regression model was established and evaluated by 3 index, Mean Absolute Error(MAE), Root Mean Squared Error(RMSE) and Index of Agreement(IOA) for the accuracy of the model. The elevation values extracted from GE in 15086 sample grid points of the lake ranged from 8.5 m to 24.8 m. After the sample points were divided randomly to three groups, the mean elevations of three groups were 13.49 m, 13.52 m and 13.65 m, respectively, with standard deviation ranged from 2.04-2.06. The mean elevation among three groups has no statistic difference (F = 1.536, P = 0.215). A elevation correction regression model was established as y = 6.228 + 0.485×. the evaluation results for the accuracy of the model showed that the MAE and RMSE before correction was 1.28 m and 3.95 m respectively, higher than that after correction, which were 0.74 and 1.30 m correspondingly. The IOA before correction (-0.40)was lower than that after correction(0.34). Google Earth can directly or indirectly get access to massive information related to topography, geomorphology and ground objects due to its indisputable advantages. However, it still needs to be converted into more reliable and accurate data by combining with pre-processing tools. This study used self-developed API program to extract elevation data from GE through precisely locating and improved the accuracy of elevation by using a correction regression model, which can provide reliable data sources for all kinds of spatial data researches and applications.

NLRC5, a valuable marker for the diagnosis and prognostic assessment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: NLR family CARD domain containing 5 (NLRC5) is involved the initiation and progression of several cancers. However, its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still unclear. This study aimed to explore the expression, clinical significance, and regulated gene sets of NLRC5 in HCC. METHODS: Data related to NLRC5 was extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and analyzed. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was conducted to verify the NLRC5 mRNA expression in HCC. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and western blot were performed to detect the NLRC5 protein level in HCC. The clinical significance of NLRC5 was investigated after separating patients into NLRC5-positive and NLRC5-negative groups based on the IHC results. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed to detect gene sets regulated by NLRC5 in HCC. RESULTS: Increased NLRC5 mRNA and protein expression were found in HCC tissues compared to paracancerous tissues. Moreover, enhanced NLRC5 protein expression was associated with a higher presence rate of cirrhosis, a higher TNM stage, and a shorter 3-year overall survival (OS) of HCC participants. Finally, gene sets related to cancer metastasis were up-regulated in the NLRC5 high phenotype. CONCLUSIONS: NLRC5 is a potential marker for the diagnosis and prognostic assessment of HCC.

Assessment of the effect of treatment and assistance program on advanced patients with schistosomiasis japonica in China from 2009 to 2014.

Schistosomiasis is one of the most important zoonoses, threatening approximately 800 million people in 78 countries with a loss of 70 million disability-adjusted life years. Over the past six decades, China has made remarkable achievements in morbidity control, but disability and mortality control remains much to desire; thus, advanced schistosomiasis is a growing problem when on the road to schistosomiasis elimination. Since 2005, China has initiated a national treatment and assistance program to advanced patients, aiming to improve patients' symptoms and quality of life. Here, we conducted a two-phase study to evaluate the program's implementation and effect on advanced patients from 2009 to 2014 in Jiangxi Province, China. A total of 6425 advanced schistosomiasis cases were included in this study. For those having been treated and assisted (90.7 %), the cure or improvement rate was over 99.9 %, with 668 (11.5 %) cases having reached clinical cure and 5152 (88.4 %) cases' condition having improved, which can be partially reflected in the significant decline of the proportion of hepatomegaly (splenomegaly), the degree of liver fibrosis, ascites-related indicators (abdominal girth and frequency of shifting dullness), and portal hypertension-related indices (inner diameter of portal vein and frequency of subcutaneous varicose vein of abdominal wall). Besides, it was estimated to have saved 2004 years of life lost at total. Therefore, the government should continue support and increase input of treatment and assistance program so that this project can reach more patients, leading to consolidation of achievements of schistosomiasis control and contribution to schistosomiasis elimination.

Serodiagnosis of Schistosoma japonicum infection: genome-wide identification of a protein marker, and assessment of its diagnostic validity in a field study in China.

BACKGROUND: Schistosomiasis remains a highly prevalent and serious parasitic disease. A major factor preventing its effective management is the scarcity of effective diagnostic tools. We did a genome-wide identification of diagnostic protein markers for schistosome infection and assessed their diagnostic validity in a field study. METHODS: We predicted putative secreted proteins of Schistosoma japonicum (SjSPs) and expressed them as glutathione S-transferase (GST)-fusion proteins. The fusion proteins were arrayed on glutathione (GSH)-immobilised microplates and screened with serum samples from patients with schistosomiasis diagnosed by the Kato-Katz method. We further assessed an identified protein marker for sensitivity and specificity, first in infected serum samples collected from Jiangxi and Hunan Provinces, China, and then through a field study, done in two villages located in a high schistosomiasis-endemic area of the southeast of China. FINDINGS: Of 204 recombinant proteins, 35 yielded seropositive reactions, eight showed strong immunoreactivity, and only one (SjSP-13) reacted to the entire panel of 14 archived samples. The reactivity of SjSP-13 to 476 serum samples showed 90·4% (95% CI 86·5-93·5) sensitivity and 98·9% (95% CI 95·9-99·9) specificity. Of 1371 residents enrolled in a field study from Dec 6, 2010, to June 23, 2011, only 74 individuals were identified as being egg-positive, whereas 465 were diagnosed as positive by the SjSP-13-based ELISA kit (rSP13-ELISA). Of the 394 individuals found egg-negative but rSP13-ELISA-positive, 363 (92·4%) were confirmed to be positive for schistosome infection by PCR detection of S japonicum SjR2 retrotransposon. INTERPRETATION: The application of this sensitive, specific, and affordable rSP13-ELISA method should help reduce schistosomiasis transmission through targeted treatment of individuals, particularly with low intensity infections, and therefore support schistosomiasis control and elimination strategies. FUNDING: National 973 project in China.

Breeding of commercially acceptable allelopathic rice cultivars in China.

BACKGROUND: One promising area of paddy weed control is the potential for exploiting the weed-suppressing ability of rice. This study was conducted to develop commercially acceptable allelopathic rice cultivars using crosses between allelopathic rice variety PI312777 and commercial Chinese cultivars (N2S, N9S, Huahui354, Peiai64S and Tehuazhan35), and to assess their weed suppression and grain yield in paddy fields in relation to their parents. RESULTS: There was a positive dominance in the crosses Huahui354 × PI312777 and N2S × PI312777 but recessive or negative dominance in N9S × PI312777, Peiai64S × PI312777 and Tehuazhan35 × PI312777. Huahui354 × PI312777 and N2S × PI312777 showed stronger weed suppression than their parents and other crosses. Finally, an F8 line with an appearance close to Huahui354 and a magnitude of weed suppression close to PI312777 was obtained from Huahui354 × PI312777. This line, named Huagan-3, was released as a first commercially acceptable allelopathic rice cultivar in China. The grain yield and quality of Huagan-3 met the commercial standard of the local rice industry. Huagan-3 greatly suppressed paddy weeds, although suppression was influenced by year-to-year variation and plant density. There was no certain yield reduction in Huagan-3 even under a slight infestation of barnyard grass in paddy fields. CONCLUSION: The successful breeding of Huagan-3 with high yield and strong weed suppression may be incorporated into present rice production systems to minimise the amount of herbicide used.

Privacy-preserving telecardiology sensor networks: toward a low-cost portable wireless hardware/software codesign.

Recently, a remote-sensing platform based on wireless interconnection of tiny ECG sensors called Telecardiology Sensor Networks (TSN) provided a promising approach to perform low-cost real-time cardiac patient monitoring at any time in community areas (such as elder nursing homes or hospitals). The contribution of this research is the design of a practical TSN hardware/software platform for a typical U.S. healthcare community scenario (such as large nursing homes with many elder patients) to perform real-time healthcare data collections. On the other hand, due to the radio broadcasting nature of MANET, a TSN has the risk of losing the privacy of patients' data. Medical privacy has been highly emphasized by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This research also designs a medical security scheme with low communication overhead to achieve confidential electrocardiogram data transmission in wireless medium.

Far-field pattern simulation of flip-chip bonded power light-emitting diodes by a Monte Carlo photon-tracing method.

The far-field pattern of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is an important issue in practical applications. We used a Monte Carlo photon-tracing method for the package design of flip-chip bonded power LEDs. As a first-order approximation, we propose using a plane light source model to calculate the far-field pattern of encapsulated LEDs. The far-field pattern is also studied by use of a more detailed model, which takes the structure of all epitaxial layers of a flip-chip bonded power LED into consideration. By comparing the simulation results with the experimental data, we have concluded that the plane light source model is much less time-consuming and offers fairly good precision for package design.