Mating harassment may boost the effectiveness of the sterile insect technique for Aedes mosquitoes.

The sterile insect technique is based on the overflooding of a target population with released sterile males inducing sterility in the wild female population. It has proven to be effective against several insect pest species of agricultural and veterinary importance and is under development for Aedes mosquitoes. Here, we show that the release of sterile males at high sterile male to wild female ratios may also impact the target female population through mating harassment. Under laboratory conditions, male to female ratios above 50 to 1 reduce the longevity of female Aedes mosquitoes by reducing their feeding success. Under controlled conditions, blood uptake of females from an artificial host or from a mouse and biting rates on humans are also reduced. Finally, in a field trial conducted in a 1.17 ha area in China, the female biting rate is reduced by 80%, concurrent to a reduction of female mosquito density of 40% due to the swarming of males around humans attempting to mate with the female mosquitoes. This suggests that the sterile insect technique does not only suppress mosquito vector populations through the induction of sterility, but may also reduce disease transmission due to increased female mortality and lower host contact.

Infantile Myofibromatosis: 32 Patients and Review of Literature.

BACKGROUND: Infantile myofibromatiosis (IM) is a rare benign tumor in the infants, but it has a bad prognosis if IM erncroaches on the viscera. Multiple tissues can be invaded by IM, including the subcutaneous tissue, the muscle of the neck, back, and head, but seldom in the bones and the viscera. The histopathologic and immunohistochemical examinations are necessary in daigonosis of IM as it might be misdiagnosed as the malignant tumor. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Thirty-two consecutive patients with IM in our hospital (2003-2013) were enrolled and the clinical date were analyzed to understand IM better, such as the feature of clinical manifestations, pathology, imaging tests, and treatment. RESULTS: All of them underwent excision operations, 4 of them with invasion in the bones, 2 with invasion in the craniums, and the rest in the ulna and the humerus. The immunohistiochemical analysis shown that the tumor cells were positive to vimentin and smooth muscle actin while negative to the S100 protein and desmin. Twenty-five patients were in follow-up, 2 cases recurred. CONCLUSIONS: IM is a benign tumor, but IM with the viscera involvement has a bad prognosis. The strategy of waiting and observation for IM without visceral involvement could be selected.

Therapeutic effects of simvastatin combined with kallistatin treatment for pediatric burn patients with sepsis.

The aim of the present study was to examine the combined efficacy of simvastatin and kallistatin treatment for pediatric burn sepsis. A total of 72 pediatric patients with burn sepsis were recruited and randomly divided into 3 groups, receiving simvastatin (40 mg/day), kallistatin (20 mg/day) or combined treatment. ELISA, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, western blotting and flow cytometry were used to analyze the therapeutic effects of simvastatin and kallistatin. The results revealed that combined treatment in pediatric burn sepsis patients decreased the inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor α and interleukin (IL)-1ß serum levels, whereas it increased IL-10 and human leukocyte antigen-D related levels. In addition, administration of combined simvastatin and kallistatin decreased the blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine levels in the patients. It was also demonstrated that Toll-like receptor 4 expression on the surface of monocytes was markedly decreased, while suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 expression was increased in the combined treatment group as compared with the kallistatin or simvastatin treatment alone. Combined treatment also promoted human endothelial cell (HEC) growth compared with the single treatment groups and inhibited the high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) levels, HMGB1-induced nuclear factor-κB activation and inflammatory gene expression levels in these cells. The study further demonstrated that combined treatment significantly decreased HEC apoptosis through the upregulation of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and P53 expression levels, as well as downregulation of Bcl-2-associated X protein and caspase-3 levels. In conclusion, these observations indicated that combined treatment with simvastatin and kallistatin inhibited HEC apoptosis, which may be a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of pediatric burn sepsis patients.

Enhanced nitrogen removal using solid carbon source in constructed wetland with limited aeration.

In this study, the performances of nitrogen removal in constructed wetlands using solid carbon source with limited aeration were investigated. The blends of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV) and polyacetic acid (PLA) were used as the carbon source and biofilm support. The performances of nitrogen removal, microbial abundance and microbial community structure in the biofilm attached on PHBV/PLA were investigated. Higher ammonia removal efficiency (91.00%) and total nitrogen removal efficiency (97.03%) than non-aerated constructed wetland (System NA) were achieved in constructed wetland with limited aeration (System A). The limited aeration decreased the average concentrations of COD in effluent. And, System A had higher microbial abundance than System NA. Pyrosequencing analysis showed that denitrifying bacteria Brevinema (41.85%) and Thiothrix (12.33%) were the predominant genus in the biofilm attached on the carbon source in System NA and System A, respectively.

Enteral nutrition versus parenteral nutrition after major abdominal surgery in patients with gastrointestinal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

To clarify the benefits of enteral nutrition (EN) versus total parenteral nutrition (TPN) in patients with gastrointestinal cancer who underwent major abdominal surgery. Medline, Cochrane, EMBASE, and Google Scholar were searched for studies published until July 10, 2015, reporting outcomes between the two types of postoperative nutritional support. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. A χ(2)-based test of homogeneity was performed using Cochran's Q statistic and I(2) A total of 2540 patients (1268 who received EN and 1272 who received TPN; average age range: 58.3-67.7 years) from 18 RCTs were included for assessment. Patients who received EN had shorter lengths of hospital stay (pooled difference in mean=-1.74, 95% CI -2.41 to -1.07, p<0.001, shorter time to flatus (pooled difference in mean=-1.27, 95% CI -1.69 to -0.85, p<0.001), and significantly greater increases in albumin levels (pooled difference in mean=-1.33, 95% CI -2.18 to -0.47, p=0.002) compared with those who received TPN after major abdominal surgery, based on a random-effects model of analysis. EN after major abdominal surgery provided better outcomes compared with TPN in patients with gastrointestinal cancer.

[Relationship of nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or palate and poliovirus receptor-related 1 exon 3 polymorphisms in Han people of Jiangzhe area].

OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship of nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or palate (NSCL/P) and poliovirus receptor-related 1 exon3 (PVRL1exon3) polymorphisms in Han People of Jiangzhe area. METHODS: PVRL1exon3 was examined by polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) technique in the 50 patients with NSCL/P and 85 healthy parents. RESULTS: No W185X mutation was found in the PVRL1exon 3. CONCLUSION: It indicates that there is no relationship between NSCL/P and PVRL1exon3 in Han People in Jiangzhe area.