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Objective: This study systematically explore the efficacy and safety of fourth-generation chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR-T), which express interleukin 7 (IL7) and chemokine C-C motif ligand 19 (CCL19) and target CD19, in relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma. Methods: Our center applied autologous 7×19 CAR-T combined with tirelizumab to treat 11 patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma. The efficacy and adverse effects were explored. Results: All 11 enrolled patients completed autologous 7×19 CAR-T preparation and infusion. Nine patients completed the scheduled six sessions of tirolizumab treatment, one completed four sessions, and one completed one session. Furthermore, five cases (45.5%) achieved complete remission, and three cases (27.3%) achieved partial remission with an objective remission rate of 72.7%. Two cases were evaluated for disease progression, and one died two months after reinfusion because of uncontrollable disease. The median follow-up time was 31 (2-34) months, with a median overall survival not achieved and a median progression-free survival of 28 (1-34) months. Two patients with partial remission achieved complete remission at the 9th and 12th months of follow-up. Therefore, the best complete remission rate was 63.6%. Cytokine-release syndrome and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome were controllable, and no immune-related adverse reactions occurred. Conclusion: Autologous 7×19 CAR-T combined with tirelizumab for treating relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma achieved good efficacy with controllable adverse reactions.
Subject(s)
Immunotherapy, Adoptive , Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse , Humans , Antibodies, Monoclonal/therapeutic use , Antigens, CD19 , Chemokine CCL19 , Interleukin-7 , Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse/therapy , Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor , Receptors, Chimeric AntigenABSTRACT
The article "Role of long non-coding RNA SNHG1 in occurrence and progression of ovarian carcinoma, by J. Ge, X.-M. Wu, X.-T. Yang, J.-M. Gao, F. Wang, K.-F. Ye, published in Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2018; 22 (2): 329-335-DOI: 10.26355/eurrev_201801_14176-PMID: 29424921" has been retracted by the authors. After publication, the article was questioned on PubPeer. Concerns were expressed about Figures 2 and 3, raising doubts about the originality of data and the reliability of the published results. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause https://www.europeanreview.org/article/14176.
ABSTRACT
A new visible imaging system characterizing a flexible optical design and delivering high resolution frames is established on the HL-2A tokamak. It features a modular configuration, consisting of a front-end imaging lens, a set of bilateral telecentric relay lenses, and a camera. To avoid the effects of plasma radiation (x and gamma-rays) and magnetic field variation on the camera, it should be away from the coils. Therefore, the length of the relay lenses determines the total size of the imaging system. The main feature of this imaging system is to realize the variation of field of view (FOV) by interchanging the front-end prime lenses or by using a zoom lens directly rather than designing the optical system afresh, which lowers the cost drastically. The primary purpose of varying FOV is to enrich the versatility of this system, i.e., focusing on a narrow FOV such as gas puff imaging or a wide FOV such as the plasma cross sections. During the HL-2A experiments, this visible imaging system is used to provide high quality pictures of the plasma-wall interaction, divertor detachment, pellet injections, and so on. The frames confirmed that a strong radiation close to the X point is correlated with the completely detached inner target.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the change trends of sperm quality with seasonal variations among the volunteers of sperm donors in Beijing area, as well as the relationship between two parameters. METHODS: Semen data from the volunteers of sperm donors in Human Sperm Bank of Peking University Third Hospital were collected using a retrospective study method. The subjects were divided into 4 seasonal groups based on the lunar solar terms and the time of sperm donation. The data were assessed to find whether there were differences in semen parameters among different seasonal groups, and to analyze the change trends and the influence of seasonal factors on semen parameters. RESULTS: A total of 21 174 semen parameter data were analyzed. Firstly, to analyze all data as a whole, in spring, summer, autumn and winter groups, sperm concentration was (106.04±59.67)×106/mL, (97.61±47.41)×106/mL, (100.18±47.17)×106/mL, (100.59±38.68)×106/mL, respectively, and the spring group was significantly higher than the other 3 seasonal groups (P < 0.001); proportion of progressive motility sperm (PR) was 56.49%±12.76%, 58.02%±13.65%, 58.05%±12.36%, and 57.66%±12.61%, respectively, spring group was lower than the other three seasonal groups, and summer group was better among the latter (P < 0.001). There was no difference in normal rate of sperm morphology among the four seasonal groups. The qualified rate of sperm donors in the winter group was higher than that in the other three seasons groups (P < 0.01), while the qualified rate in the summer group was lower than that in the other three seasons groups. In addition, the semen parameters of the volunteers during the screening period and the official sperm donation period were analyzed respectively, which revealed that sperm concentration of spring group was higher than that of summer and winter groups, and PR was lower than that of summer and autumn groups. On account of the semen parameters of official sperm donation period, multiple linear regression analysis found that season was the main factor affecting sperm concentration, the average sperm concentration in spring group was about 6×106/mL higher than in winter group, but PR was 2.9% lower in spring group compared with autumn group (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Season was the influencing factor of semen quality of sperm donors in Beijing area. We recommend spring and winter may be the preferred seasons for sperm donation.
Subject(s)
Semen Analysis , Semen , Humans , Male , Retrospective Studies , Seasons , Sperm Count , Sperm Motility , SpermatozoaSubject(s)
COVID-19 , Skin Diseases , Health Personnel , Humans , Pandemics , Prospective Studies , SARS-CoV-2 , United Kingdom/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Objective: To design the fourth-generation chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) cells that secrete interleukin-7 (IL7) and chemokine C legend 19 (CCL19) on the basis of the second-generation CAR, and to analyze and compare the differences in proliferation, chemotaxis, tumor cell clearance and persistence in the microenvironment of multiple myeloma (MM) between them. Methods: The fourth-generation CAR vector plasmid was constructed by using 2A self-cleaving peptide technology. The third-generation lentiviral packaging system was used to prepare high-titer lentivirus. Flow cytometry was used to monitor the transduction efficiency of lentivirus and the subtype changes of CAR-T cells. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to quantify the IL7 and CCL19 secreted by CAR-T cells.The calculation of absolute number of CAR-T cells during culture was used to analysis cell proliferation activity. Transwell migration assay was used to verify the chemotactic ability of CAR-T cells. The specific killing activity of CAR-T cells was detected by using the luciferase bioluminescence method. The NOD-Prkdcem26Cd52Il2rgem26Cd22/Nju (NOD) mouse xenograft model was used to verify the anti-myeloma activity and safety of CAR-T cells in vivo. Results: Flow cytometry results showed that the stable CAR expression rates of the second-generation anti-CS1 CAR-T and fourth-generation anti-CS1-IL7-CCL19 CAR-T cells were (91.50±0.29)% and (46.7±0.12)%, respectively. CAR-T cells were successfully constructed. Subtype analysis demonstrated that the ratio of stem memory T cell (TSCM) in anti-CS1-IL7-CCL19 CAR-T cells was (67.58±0.59)%, which was significantly higher than (50.74 ± 1.01)% of anti-CS1 CAR-T (P=0.000 1), with more strong immune memory function and better durability. Anti-CS1-IL7-CCL19 CAR-T cells can continuously secrete IL7 and CCL19 compared to MOCK-T and anti-CS1 CAR-T (P<0.000 1). The number of anti-CS1-IL7-CCL19 CAR-T cells reached (22.77±0.79)×10(6) on the 9th day after lentivirus transduction, which was significantly higher than (9.40±0.79)×10(6) of anti-CS1 CAR-T cells (P=0.000 1), with stronger proliferation ability. The number of chemotaxis cells of anti-CS1-IL7-CCL19 CAR-T cells to reactive T cells was (109.0±4.04), which was significantly higher than (9.33±1.20) of MOCK-T (P<0.000 1) and (7.33±0.88) of anti-CS1 CAR-T (P<0.000 1), with stronger chemotactic ability. The specific killing activity showed that both anti-CS1-IL7-CCL19 CAR-T and anti-CS1 CAR-T cells had specific killing efficacies when compared with the MOCK-T cells (P<0.000 1). Animal experiment indicated that anti-CS1-IL7-CCL19 CAR-T cells significantly reduced the tumor burden (P<0.000 1) and extended the overall survival time (P=0.006 1) of tumor-bearing mice. Conclusions: The anti-CS1-IL7-CCL19 CAR-T cells designed in this study show stronger proliferative activity, chemotactic ability, and durability without affecting the anti-myeloma activity in vivo and in vivo, which provides strategies for overcoming the defects of low survival rate, poor durability and inhibition by tumor microenvironment of traditional CAR-T cells, and offers preliminary experimental basis for the clinical application of the fourth-generation CAR-T cells.
Subject(s)
Multiple Myeloma , Animals , Cell Line, Tumor , Immunotherapy, Adoptive , Mice , Mice, Inbred NOD , Multiple Myeloma/therapy , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local , T-Lymphocytes , Tumor Microenvironment , Xenograft Model Antitumor AssaysABSTRACT
Objective: This study investigated the professional identity of administrators in 3rd class hospitals in Shanghai, analyzing the professional identity of administrators and associated factors in public hospitals. Methods: In May 2019, Huashan Hospital conducted a questionnaire survey. Through the analysis of the survey data, this study discussed the correlation between the professional identity degree and the external factors. Three main dimensions of occupational identity were extracted by principal component analysis, namely the professional self-identity, organizational identity and social identity. External influencing factors were analyzed by factor analysis, and five main factors were extracted. Results: It was found that the professional self-identity was much higher than the organizational and social identity. The degree of organizational identity was significantly related to external factors (r=0.212,0.426,0.146,0.580,0.610,P <0.01). Respect factors (r=0.553,0.580,0.570) and self-realization factors (r=0.563,0.610,0.433) had the highest correlation with professional identity. Conclusion: Initiating with improving organizational identity, the authorities and hospitals should establish a scientific and reasonable promotion and incentive mechanism to enhance the degree of professional identity.
Subject(s)
Hospitals, Public , Social Identification , China , Humans , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Objective: To study the significance of induction chemotherapy and subsequent comprehensive therapy for overall survival rate (OS) and larynx dysfunction-free survival rate (LDFS) in patients with advanced hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods: Patients who met the inclusion criteria with the diagnoses of advanced hypopharyngeal carcinoma between 2011 and 2017 received 2 or 3 cycles of TPF regimen induction chemotherapy. Patients who attained complete response (CR) received radical chemotherapy. Patients who attained partial response (PR) and the reduction of tumor volume was more than 70% were defined as large PR and received concurrent chemoradiotherapy. When the tumor volume reduction of PR patients was less than 70%, they were defined as small PR. (CR+large PR) group was defined as effective group. Patients who did not reach CR and large PR were defined as uneffective group and underwent radical surgery and received adjuvant radiotherapy as appropriate after the surgery. The end points of the study were OS, progression-free survival (PFS) and LDFS. Chi-square (χ(2)) test was used for correlation analysis. Survival analysis was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method with a Log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards model was used for univariate and multivariate survival analysis. Results: A total of 260 patients were enrolled in the study. The follow-up period ranged from 5 to 83 months, with an average of 24.7 months. The 3-year and 5-year OS rate was 46.0% and 32.6%, respectively. The 3-year and 5-year PFS rate was 41.0% and 26.6%, respectively. The 3-year and 5-year LDFS rate was 37.9% and 24.8%, respectively. Poor outcome of induction chemotherapy, advanced N stage, strong positive Ki-67 immunohistochemistry (all P<0.001) were negative prognostic factors. The advanced clinical stage was positively related to the poor outcome of induction chemotherapy (P=0.015). There was no significant difference in OS and PFS between the large PR group and the small PR group (all P>0.005). Conclusion: TPF regimen induction chemotherapy and subsequent comprehensive therapy for patients with advanced hypopharyngeal carcinoma may improve the quality of life of patients, with high OS rate and LDFS rate.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell , Head and Neck Neoplasms , Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/drug therapy , Chemoradiotherapy , Cisplatin/therapeutic use , Humans , Induction Chemotherapy , Prospective Studies , Quality of Life , Retrospective Studies , Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck , Treatment OutcomeSubject(s)
Diabetes Mellitus , Diabetic Cardiomyopathies , Cell Transdifferentiation , Fibroblasts , Humans , MyocardiumABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) is a disorder characterized by recurrent upper airway obstruction, apnea, and hypopnea, associated with decreased oxygen saturation and disturbed sleep structure during sleep. It was found that OSAS was associated with a variety of arrhythmia and conduction disorders, but the relationship between multiple types of arrhythmia and the severity of OSAS, and its possible mechanism remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to observe the main types of arrhythmia and the condition of heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with OSAS, to detect the levels of multiple inflammatory factors in serum of OSAS patients, and to observe the correlation between polysomnographic parameters or inflammatory factors, and arrhythmia or HRV, as well as its possible mechanisms. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 141 patients with suspected OSAS were collected in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University and Xinghua People's Hospital from February 2016 to February 2018. According to the sleep apnea hypopnea index (AHI), they were divided into control group (AHI <5, n = 34), mild-moderate OSAS group (5≤ AHI <30, n = 48), and severe OSAS group (AHI ≥30, n = 59). Clinical data such as gender and age were collected. All patients completed polysomnography (PSG), 24-hour Holter monitoring and blood routine, biochemical indexes and serum hs-CRP, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1ß testing. The indicators in the three groups were compared, and the correlation between PSG parameters, HRV and inflammatory biomarkers was investigated. RESULTS: Compared with control group, there were significant differences in age, sex ratio, BMI, uric acid, TC, and TG in the mild-moderate OSAS group (p<0.05), and in age, sex ratio, BMI, red blood cell count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, uric acid, FBS, TC, TG, LDL, and HDL in severe OSAS group (p<0.05). There were significant differences in gender ratio, BMI, red blood cell count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, uric acid, FBS, TC, TG, LDL, and HDL between mild-moderate OSAS group and severe OSAS group (p<0.05). Heart rate variability (HRV) parameters include SDNN, SDNN index, RMSSD, PNN50, LF, HF, and LF/HF. SDNN, PNN50, and HF in severe OSAS group and mild-moderate OSAS group were significantly lower than those in control group (p<0.05). LF/HF was significantly higher than that of control group (p<0.05). There was a significant difference in PNN50, HF, and LF/HF between severe OSAS group and mild-moderate OSAS group (p<0.05). In terms of inflammation, serum hs-CRP was significantly higher in mild-moderate OSAS group and severe OSAS group than that in control group (p<0.05). Serum IL-1ß was significantly higher in mild-moderate OSAS group than that in severe OSAS group (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in other indicators (p>0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between hs-CRP and oxygen reduction index (ODI) (r=0.209, p=0.013) and a significant negative correlation with PNN50 (r=-0.188, p=0.025). There is no significant correlation between other indicators. CONCLUSIONS: Systemic inflammatory reactions existed in patients with OSAS. With the increase of OSAS, inflammation was aggravated, especially serum hs-CRP. Hs-CRP was significantly and negatively correlated with PNN50 and positively correlated with ODI. The results suggested that the inflammatory response was involved in the occurrence of heart rate variability in OSAS patients.
Subject(s)
Arrhythmias, Cardiac/blood , Inflammation/blood , Sleep Apnea, Obstructive/blood , Adult , Aged , Arrhythmias, Cardiac/diagnosis , Biomarkers/blood , Biomarkers/metabolism , C-Reactive Protein/analysis , C-Reactive Protein/metabolism , Female , Heart Rate , Humans , Inflammation/metabolism , Interleukin-1beta/blood , Interleukin-1beta/metabolism , Interleukin-6/blood , Interleukin-6/metabolism , Male , Middle Aged , Oxygen/blood , Oxygen/metabolism , Sleep Apnea, Obstructive/diagnosis , Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/blood , Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/metabolism , Young AdultABSTRACT
We analyzed the influenza surveillance data of Children's Hospital of Suzhou University from 2016 to 2018 and estimated the hospitalization burden of children under 5 years old due to influenza infection in Suzhou. The results showed that the influenza virus positive rate of 1 451 severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases in Children's Hospital of Suzhou University was 13.6% (95%CI: 11.8%-15.3%; 197 cases), among which the influenza pandemic intensity in 2017-2018 was relatively high, and A/H1N1 was the main pandemic virus. It was estimated that the hospitalization rate of influenza-related SARI in children under 5 years old in Suzhou was 6.9 (95%CI: 6.6-7.2), among which the hospitalization rate of children aged<6 months was higher, up to 11.4 (95%CI: 9.9-12.8).
Subject(s)
Influenza, Human/epidemiology , Respiratory Tract Infections/epidemiology , Child , Child, Preschool , China/epidemiology , Hospitalization , Humans , Infant , Influenza A Virus, H1N1 SubtypeABSTRACT
Objective: To understand the clinical characteristics and economic burden of influenza-like illness (ILI) children aged 0-59 months in the outpatient settings in Suzhou, China, 2011-2017. Methods: From March 2011 to February 2017, we conducted a prospective surveillance program on ILI for children aged less than 5 years at Soochow University Affiliated Children's Hospital. Through standard questionnaires and follow-up survey via telephone, we collected information regarding the demographic characteristics, medical history, clinical symptoms and both direct and indirect costs associated with influenza, of the patients. We then compared clinical characteristics and economic burden of influenza A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and B infections among children with ILI. Results: We enrolled 6 310 patients with ILI from March 2011 to February 2017 and collected all their throat swabs. 791 (12.9%) of the swabs showed positive for influenza virus, including 88 (11.1%) subtype influenza A/H1N1, 288 (36.4%) subtype influenza A/H3N2, and 415(52.5%) type influenza B. The proportions of cough, rhinorrhea, wheezing, vomiting and convulsion in influenza-positive children were higher than those influenza-negative children. Except for the prevalence rates of cough (χ(2)=9.227, P=0.010), wheezing (χ(2)=7.273, P=0.026) and vomiting (χ(2)=8.163, P=0.017), other clinical symptoms appeared similar between the three viral subtypes. Among all the ILI children, the average total cost per episode of influenza was 688.4 Yuan (95%CI: 630.1-746.7) for influenza-negative children; 768.0 Yuan (95%CI: 686.8-849.3) for influenza-positive children and 738.3 Yuan (95%CI: 655.5-821.1) for influenza B. Children with influenza A/H1N1 spent much more than those with influenza A/H3N2 or influenza B in the total cost (χ(2)=7.237, P=0.028). Conclusion: Children infected influenza showed higher prevalence rates of cough, rhinorrhea, wheezing, vomiting and convulsion than those without influenza. Influenza A/H1N1 subtype caused heavier economic burden than the other two influenza subtypes.
Subject(s)
Ambulatory Care/statistics & numerical data , Cost of Illness , Cough/epidemiology , Fever/epidemiology , Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype , Influenza A Virus, H3N2 Subtype , Influenza, Human/economics , Outpatient Clinics, Hospital/statistics & numerical data , Outpatients/statistics & numerical data , Child , Child, Preschool , China/epidemiology , Cough/virology , Female , Fever/virology , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Influenza, Human/diagnosis , Influenza, Human/epidemiology , Prospective Studies , Socioeconomic Factors , Surveys and Questionnaires , Virus DiseasesABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of human long non-coding ribonucleic acid (lncRNA) small nucleolar RNA host gene 1 (SNHG1) in epithelial ovarian carcinoma tissues and its effects on the in vitro proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and metastasis of ovarian carcinoma cells, and to investigate its possible mechanism. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expressions of SNHG1 in 20 pairs of epithelial ovarian carcinoma tissues and para-carcinoma normal tissues were detected by Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The expressions of SNHG1 in normal ovarian epithelial cells (IOSE25) and ovarian carcinoma cells (CAOV-3, SKOV-3, ES2 and A2780) were further detected. The knockdown efficiency of SNHG1 small interfering RNA (siRNA) in SKOV-3 cells was detected via qRT-PCR. Moreover, the effects of SNHG1 knockdown on proliferation, migration and apoptosis of SKOV-3 cells were detected by cell counting kit 8 (CCK8) proliferation assay, clone formation assay, transwell migration assay and flow cytometry. Finally, the expressions of apoptosis-related proteins, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related proteins and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in control group and interference group were detected by Western blotting. RESULTS: The expression level of lncRNA SNHG1 in ovarian carcinoma tissues was significantly higher than that in para-carcinoma normal tissues. After lncRNA SNHG1 knockdown in SKOV-3 cells, the cell proliferation and clone formation abilities were significantly inhibited. The apoptosis assay proved that inhibiting lncRNA SNHG1 could promote the apoptosis of SKOV-3 cells. Besides, Western blotting revealed that the expressions of pro-apoptotic proteins in interference group were significantly upregulated compared with those in control group. Wound-healing assay and transwell migration assay showed that the down-regulation of lncRNA SNHG1 could inhibit the invasion and metastasis of SKOV-3 cells, whose mechanism was related to the inhibition of EMT process and down-regulation of expressions of MMPs. CONCLUSIONS: LncRNA SNHG1 is highly expressed in ovarian carcinoma, which can promote the growth, invasion and metastasis of ovarian carcinoma cells. The down-regulation of SNHG1 can inhibit the proliferation, invasion and metastasis of SKOV-3 cells. Inhibiting the expression of SNHG1 may be a potentially effective means of treating ovarian carcinoma.
Subject(s)
Ovarian Neoplasms/pathology , RNA, Long Noncoding/metabolism , Apoptosis , Cell Line, Tumor , Cell Movement , Cell Proliferation , Disease Progression , Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition , Female , Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic , Humans , Ovarian Neoplasms/genetics , RNA Interference , RNA, Long Noncoding/antagonists & inhibitors , RNA, Long Noncoding/genetics , RNA, Small Interfering/metabolismABSTRACT
Objective: Using the standard genotype method, variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR), we constructed a VNTR database to cover all provinces and proposed a set of optimized VNTR loci combinations for each province, in order to improve the preventive and control programs on tuberculosis, in China. Methods: A total of 15 loci VNTR was used to analyze 4 116 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains, isolated from national survey of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis, in 2007. Hunter-Gaston Index (HGI) was also used to analyze the discriminatory power of each VNTR site. A set combination of 12-VNTR, 10-VNTR, 8-VNTR and 5-VNTR was respectively constructed for each province, based on 1) epidemic characteristics of M. tuberculosis lineages in China, with high discriminatory power and genetic stability. Results: Through the completed 15 loci VNTR patterns of 3 966 strains under 96.36% (3 966/4 116) coverage, we found seven high HGI loci (including QUB11b and MIRU26) as well as low stable loci (including QUB26, MIRU16, Mtub21 and QUB11b) in several areas. In all the 31 provinces, we found an optimization VNTR combination as 10-VNTR loci in Inner Mongolia, Chongqing and Heilongjiang, but with 8-VNTR combination shared in other provinces. Conclusions: It is necessary to not only use the VNTR database for tracing the source of infection and cluster of M. tuberculosis in the nation but also using the set of optimized VNTR combinations in monitoring those local epidemics and M. tuberculosis (genetics in local) population.
Subject(s)
Mycobacterium tuberculosis/genetics , Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant/genetics , Tuberculosis/prevention & control , Bacterial Typing Techniques , China , Genotype , Humans , Minisatellite Repeats , Tandem Repeat Sequences , Tuberculosis/diagnosis , Tuberculosis/ethnologyABSTRACT
A great deal of evidence demonstrates that a strongly clonal population structure of Toxoplasma gondii strains exists in humans and animals in North America and Europe, while the strains from South America are genetically separate and more diverse. Potential differences in virulence between different strains mean that an understanding of strain diversity is important to human and animal health. However, to date, only one predominant genotype, ToxoDB#9 (Chinese I), and a few other genotypes, including ToxoDB#205, have been identified in China. By using DNA sequence-based phylogenetic analyses, we have re-evaluated the population structure of T. gondii strains collected from China and compared them with other global strains. Based on phylogenetic analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphisms, multilocus sequence typing and intron sequences from T. gondii, we propose that the Chinese isolates described as Chinese I are divided into two groups called Chinese I and Chinese III. Our results demonstrate that significant differences were found in mouse mortality caused by some Chinese strains, and also the archetypal I, II, III strains in mice. Furthermore, a comparison of cyst loading in the brains of infected rats showed some Chinese strains to be capable of a high degree of cyst formation. Furthermore we show that genotyping using neutral genetic markers may not be a useful predictor of pathogenic phenotypes.
Subject(s)
Genotype , Toxoplasma/genetics , Toxoplasma/pathogenicity , Toxoplasmosis, Animal/parasitology , Animals , China/epidemiology , Female , Mice , Phylogeny , Polymorphism, Genetic , Toxoplasmosis, Animal/epidemiology , VirulenceABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The Chinese Government claims that China's health policy is primarily focused on prevention. However, this does not appear to be the case. Researchers with an interest in China's health policy may be aware that the Chinese Government launched a health reform in 2009 to improve the health status of the entire population by 2020.1 This health reform has been in place for 7 years, and only 4 years now remain to achieve the overall objectives by 2020. This study analyzed the main inputs and outputs of China's health reform in order to identify the main problems and highlight the major challenges. It is hoped that this study will provide some reference for health reform in China and other developing countries. STUDY DESIGN: This study focused on health, with human resources and healthcare costs as the main input indicators, and 2-week prevalence of illness and prevalence of non-communicable diseases as the main output indicators. By longitudinal comparison of real data from 2009 to 2014, the effects of China's health reform were analyzed to identify the main challenges, enabling suggestions to be made for future reference. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of empirical data. Data were collected between 2009 and 2014 as follows: (1) data on the distribution of healthcare professionals were collected from the Statistical Bulletin of China's Health Development, issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission every year between 2009 and 2014; (2) data on government health expenditure were obtained from the Annual National Public Fiscal Expenditure Data, released by the Financial Ministry of the People's Republic of China from 2009 to 2014; (3) data on the prevalence of chronic diseases, 2-week prevalence of illness, residents' medical service demands, and utilization of health services were obtained from the Fourth and Fifth National Health Care Surveys in 2008 and 2013; and (4) data on total healthcare expenditure, medical expenditure and out-of-pocket payments were obtained from the 2015 China Statistical Yearbook. RESULTS: From 2009 to 2014, China's healthcare human resources were distributed primarily in hospitals that focus on providing treatment. By 2014, 62.5% of the health professionals and technical personnel were distributed in hospitals. From 2009, the Chinese Government spent more money on health care than previously, with approximately 67% spent on disease treatment and 14.19% spent on disease prevention. However, the 2-week prevalence of illness increased by 5.2 percentage points, and the prevalence of chronic diseases increased by 9 percentage points. Meanwhile, residents' out-of-pocket payments for health care were as high as 50.61% of the total healthcare expenditure and were particularly high in rural areas. CONCLUSION: China should adjust the direction of its health reform as soon as possible to focus on improving health status rather than treatment of disease. In the future, as China's population ageing trend intensifies, China must take effective measures or the country's non-communicable disease rates will continue to increase. To meet this challenge, China's health reform should take effective measures to control the rising trend of the incidence of non-communicable diseases. First, China should focus on the core goal of its health reform policy, which is disease prevention. Second, China should focus on strengthening public health systems to effectively prevent and control key epidemic diseases. Third, China should increase the number of public health personnel, improve the level of education and training of public health personnel and increase the input of funds into the field of public health as soon as possible.
Subject(s)
Health Care Reform/organization & administration , Public Health , China , Empirical Research , Humans , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
In this article, a Bayesian tomography method using non-stationary Gaussian process for a prior has been introduced. The Bayesian formalism allows quantities which bear uncertainty to be expressed in the probabilistic form so that the uncertainty of a final solution can be fully resolved from the confidence interval of a posterior probability. Moreover, a consistency check of that solution can be performed by checking whether the misfits between predicted and measured data are reasonably within an assumed data error. In particular, the accuracy of reconstructions is significantly improved by using the non-stationary Gaussian process that can adapt to the varying smoothness of emission distribution. The implementation of this method to a soft X-ray diagnostics on HL-2A has been used to explore relevant physics in equilibrium and MHD instability modes. This project is carried out within a large size inference framework, aiming at an integrated analysis of heterogeneous diagnostics.
ABSTRACT
The impact of impurity ions on a pedestal has been investigated in the HL-2A Tokamak, at the Southwestern Institute of Physics, Chengdu, China. Experimental results have clearly shown that during the H-mode phase, an electromagnetic turbulence was excited in the edge plasma region, where the impurity ions exhibited a peaked profile. It has been found that double impurity critical gradients are responsible for triggering the turbulence. Strong stiffness of the impurity profile has been observed during cyclic transitions between the I-phase and H-mode regime. The results suggest that the underlying physics of the self-regulated edge impurity profile offers the possibility for an active control of the pedestal dynamics via pedestal turbulence.