Circulation of Coxsackievirus A6 in hand-foot-mouth disease in Guangzhou, 2010-2012.

BACKGROUND: Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is usually caused by Enterovirus 71(EV71), and Coxsackievirus A16 (CV-A16) in Guangzhou, the biggest city of South China. However, Coxsackievirus A6 (CV-A6) were observed increased dramatically from 2010-2012. METHODS: In order to understand and to describe the epidemiologic and genetic characteristics of CV-A6, specimens of 5482 suspected HFMD cases were collected and examined by real-time fluorescence PCR. All samples positive for enteroviruses were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Phylogenetic analysis of CV-A6 based on the VP1 sequences was performed to investigate molecular and evolutionary characteristics. RESULTS: Coxsackievirus A6 increased dramatically from 9.04% in 2010 to 23.21% in 2012 and became one of the main causative agents of HFMD in Guangzhou. CV-A6 attack rates were highest in one to two year olds (33.14%). Typical clinic symptoms of CV-A6 HFMD include fever (589/720, 81.81%), maculopopular rash and vesicular exanthema around the perioral area (408/720, 56.66%), intraoral (545/720, 75.69%), the buttock (395/720, 54.86%), the trunk (244/720, 33.89%), the knee (188/720, 26.11%), and the dorsal aspects of hands (437/720, 60.69%). Phylogenetic analysis showed the CV-A6 isolates in this study belonged to Cluster A1 and were similar to those found in Shanghai in 2011 and 2012 (JX495148, KC414735), Shenzhen in 2011 (JX473394), Japan in 2011 (AB649243, AB649246), France in 2010(HE572928), Thailand in 2012(JX556564) and Israel in 2012 and 2013(.KF991010, KF991012).

The intrinsically high pitting corrosion resistance of mechanically polished nitinol in simulated physiological solutions.

Nitinol wires have been widely used in many biomedical applications, such as cardiovascular stent due to their superelasticity and shape memory effect. However, their corrosion properties and the related biocompatibility are not well understood, and the reported results are controversial. In this study, we evaluate the pitting corrosion property of nitinol, titanium, nickel, and 316L stainless steel (316LSS) wires with different surface roughnesses in a saline solution at 37 °C. The cyclic potentiodynamic polarization results show that mechanically polished nitinol and Ti wires are highly resistant to pitting corrosion, while Ni and 316LSS wires are susceptible to pitting corrosion. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is used to study the interface of oxide film/solution and all mechanically polished nitinol wires are covered by 2-3 nm thick films formed under open circuit potential. Furthermore, the electronic structures and semiconducting properties of passive films on nitinol, Ti and Ni wires are studied by Mott-Schottky analysis. Passive films formed on nitinol and Ti exhibit n-type semiconducting characteristics, whereas films on Ni show p-type semiconducting characteristics. Scanning Kelvin Microscopy is used to measure the surface potential difference between common inclusions from the nitinol matrix and the results indicate that the inclusions are more electrochemically noble than the nitinol matrix. Band energy theory is used to model the electrochemical interface between the passive films of nitinol and the solution under different applied potential conditions. A mechanism for the strong pitting corrosion resistance of nitinol in saline solution is proposed.

Surface characteristics and protein adsorption on combinatorial binary Ti-M (Cr, Al, Ni) and Al-M (Ta, Zr) library films.

Systematic studies of protein adsorption onto metallic biomaterial surfaces are generally lacking. Here, combinatorial binary library films with compositional gradients of Ti(1-x)Cr(x), Ti(1-x)Al(x), Ti(1-x)Ni(x) and Al(1-x)Ta(x), (0