Etiological and epidemiological characteristics of Vibrio cholerae in Beijing, 2015-2021 / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective: To analyze the etiological and epidemiological characteristics of Vibrio cholerae in Beijing during 2015-2021 and provide evidence for the prevention and control of cholera. Methods: The V. cholerae strains isolated in Beijing during 2015-2021 were analyzed by serotyping and virulence genes detection. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was performed for the molecular typing of the strains. Based on the collected epidemiological and clinical data of cholera cases,the epidemiological characteristics of cholera were analyzed by descriptive epidemiology method. Results: A total of 76 Vibrio cholerae O1 strains were isolated in Beijing during 2015-2021, including 61 strains from human, 10 strains from environment and 5 strains from seafood. The 76 strains consisted of 68 Ogawa strains and 8 Inaba strains. Six Ogawa strains isolated from sporadic cases carried ctxAB. After NotⅠ digestion, 76 strains were divided into 33 PFGE patterns. From 2015 to 2021, a total of 38 cholera epidemics were reported in Beijing, most of them were sporadic ones, accounting for 92.11% (35/38). A total of 45 cases were reported, and the cases occurred during June-September accounted for 97.78% (44/45). Cholera cases occurred in 9 districts of Beijing, and the cases reported in Chaoyang district accounted for 42.22% (19/45) and in Changping district accounted for 31.11% (14/45). The age of the cholera cases ranged from 19 to 63 years. Except for one case with unknown clinical symptoms, 44 cases had diarrhea symptoms with 84.09% (37/44) of the cases reporting diarrhea (3-9 times/day), followed by yellow watery stool (95.45%, 42/44), abdominal pain (68.18%, 30/44), nausea and vomiting (40.91%, 18/44) and fever (36.36%, 16/44). Conclusion: Vibrio cholerae strains isolated in Beijing during 2015-2021 were mainly O1 serotype Ogawa,most of which were non-toxigenic. The PFGE of the strains varied. Cholera epidemics occurred in 9 districts of Beijing, but most were sporadic ones with incidence peak during June-September.

Clinical application of the modified pediatric nutritional risk screening tool / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study the clinical application of the modified nutritional risk screening tool and nutrition assessment in pediatric patients in China, and to provide a theoretical basis for establishing a standardized nutritional management process for pediatric patients.@*METHODS@#A retrospective analysis was performed for the nutritional risk screening and nutrition assessment data of 16 249 hospitalized children. According to the degree of nutritional risk, the children were divided into a high nutritional risk group with 588 children, a moderate nutritional risk group with 4 330 children, and a non-nutritional risk group with 11 331 children. Nutrition assessment results were compared between groups. The composition of nutritional risk screening scores and the impact of nutritional risk screening on the rate of nutrition support therapy were analyzed.@*RESULTS@#The incidence rate of nutritional risk was 30.27% (4 918/16 249), and the incidence rates of malnutrition and overnutrition were 27.37% (4 448/16 249) and 11.29% (1 834/16 249), respectively. Nutrition assessment results were significantly correlated with nutritional risk (≥ 5 years old:@*CONCLUSIONS@#There is a high incidence rate of nutritional risk in hospitalized children. The use of the modified pediatric nutritional risk screening tool can promote the implementation of standardized nutritional management.

Analysis of interocular symmetry of primary angle-closure suspects by IOL Master / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

AIM: To observe the interocular symmetry of primary angle-closure suspects` (PACS) parameters using IOL Master.METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study.Totally 112 eyes from 56 subjects were enrolled to detect the difference of the bilateral axial length (AL), anterior chamber depth (ACD) and white to white distance(WTW), and to evaluate the correlation between the interocular differences of △AL, △ACD and △WTW and age, gender.RESULTS: All the parameters were analyzed by paired-samples t test and there were no significant interocular difference (P>0.05).There was no relation of ΔAL,ΔACD and ΔWTW with age and gender.CONCLUSION: Interocular symmetry of parameters by IOL Master was observed in PACS, and we found that the symmetry would not be altered when the age and gender had changed.

Study on the epidemiologic characteristics of norovirus infection in Beijing / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of norovirus infection in Beijing.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Both outbreaks and sporadic cases of acute gastroenteritis were studied through questionnaires while the stools of patients were collected. Noroviruses were detected by ELISA or RT-PCR, and PCR products were cloned and sequenced.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Eight outbreaks were reported between November 2006 and March 2007, which were confirmed as nosocomial infections. A total of 158 positive cases were detected among 409 sporadic cases of acute virus gastroenteritis with a positive rate of 38.63%. The highest positive rate (55.00%) was found in group aged from 40 to 44, while the lowest positive rate (21.74%) fell into groups aged from 55 to 59. The positive cases aged from 6 months to 91 years with the mean age of 40 years old including 84 males and 74 females. Data from sequence analysis showed that norovirus epidemic strains helonged to the GII/4 variants in Beijing, which were almost identical to the variants causing epidemics both in the Netherlands and in Japan.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Norovirus was important, causing virus-borne diarrhea between 2006 and 2007 in Beijing, and the epidemic strains were consistent with those isolated from both the Netherlands and Japan in 2006.</p>

A preliminary study on molecular characteristics of noroviruses detected in Beijing / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the molecular characteristics of noroviruses detected in Beijing.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>From January to March 2007, cases from both outbreaks and sporadic episodes of acute nonbacterial gastroenteritis were investigated in Beijing, and the fecal specimens of the patients were collected. Noroviruses were detected by a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and then the PCR products were cloned and sequenced.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 27 positive cases were identified as caused by noroviruses among the 38 patients with acute viral gastroenteritis, and four PCR products were randomly selected for further studies on sequencing. When comparing to the nucleotide sequences of norovirus reference strains from GenBank, the highest homology was found between the four isolates and the norovirus GII/4 strains. The four strains isolated from Beijing were almost identical to the GII/4 variants that causing epidemics in the Netherlands and in Japan with the homology of 97.8%-98.5% and 95.2%-95.9%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the four isolates were located at the same branch as the norovirus GII/4 variants in Netherlands and Japan.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>New norovirus GII/4 variants were found in Beijing, and data from sequence analysis showed that the four isolates and the epidemic strains isolated from both the Netherlands and Japan in 2006 belonged to the same group of norovirus GII/4.</p>

Effects of fat-soluble extracts from vegetable powder and beta-carotene on proliferation and apoptosis of lung cancer cell YTMLC-90 / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>The aim of this investigation was to study the effects of fat-soluble extracts from vegetable powder (FEFVP) and beta-carotene on the proliferation and apoptosis of cultured YTMLC-90 lung cancer cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The lung cancer cells were continuously exposed to a broad range of concentration of FEFVP and beta-carotene. The proliferation was evaluated in MTT test. The induction of apoptosis was evaluated by morphological change, DNA fragmentation analysis, and DNA content analysis combined with flow cytometric analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Both FEFVP and beta-carotene were found to inhibit cell proliferation and to induce morphologic changes consistent with apoptosis in YTMLC-90 cancer cells, including cellular shrinkage, chromatin condensation and nuclear fragmentation. DNA agarose gel electrophoresis showed DNA fragmentation 'ladder'. Flow cytometric analysis revealed decreased DNA content and the presence of a sub-G1 apoptotic peak.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>These findings are consistent with the induction of apoptosis. Moreover, the effects of FEFVP are stronger than those of beta-carotene. FEFVP inhibits the growth of YTMLC-90 probably via the induction of apoptosis cancer cells.</p>