Molecular epidemiology of pneumococcal isolates from children in China.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the molecular epidemiology of pneumococcal isolates in Chongqing, China. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 51 invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) strains were from children with invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and 32 carriage strains from healthy children from January 2010 to December 2013 at the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China. Multilocus sequence typing was used to identify the sequence types (STs). Capsular serotypes were determined by multiplex polymerase chain reaction. Drug susceptibility and resistance was determined by minimum inhibitory concentrations. RESULTS: In this study, 11 serotypes were identified among the 83 S. pneumoniae clinical isolates tested. Prevalent serotypes were 19A (20.4%), 6A/B (20.4%), 19F (15.7%), 14 (14.5%), and 23F (10.8%). Serotype 19F was the most frequent carriage strain, and serotype 19A was the most frequent invasive strain. The ST983 was the most prevalent ST for carriage strains, and ST320 was the most prevalent ST for invasive strains. For gene analysis, psaA (99.5%) and piaA (98.6%) were present and much conserved in all pneumococci tested. The cps2A and pcsB genes were more frequent in invasive isolates than carriage strains. Antimicrobial resistance rates of invasive pneumococcal isolates to erythromycin, penicillin, meropenem, cefotaxime, and clindamycin were higher than the carriage isolates from children. CONCLUSION: Our epidemiological evidence shows that 19A, 6A/B, 19F, 14, and 23F remain the most prevalent serotypes, which can be targeted by PCV13. Genotypes and drug resistance varied between carriage and invasive strains. The PsaA and PiaA may be good protein vaccine candidates.

[Effects of water stress and nitrogen fertilization on peanut root morphological development and leaf physiological activities].

Taking 'Huayu 22' peanut as test material, effect of soil water content and nitrogen fertilization on the leaf physiological activities and root morphological characteristics of peanut plants were analyzed. Two levels of soil water condition were: (1) well-watered condition and (2) moderate water stress, and three levels of nitrogen were: (1) none nitrogen (N0), (2) moderate nitrogen (N1, 90 kg · hm(-2)) and (3) high nitrogen (N2, 180 kg · hm(-2)). The results showed that N1 significantly increased the peanut yield under two water conditions, but showed no significant effect on harvest index compared with N0. Under water stress condition, N1 had no significant effects on total root biomass and total root length, but the total root surface area was remarkably increased. The nitrogen fertilization significantly increased the root length and root surface area in 20-40 cm soil layer, and N2 significantly increased the root biomass and root surface area in the soil layer below 40 cm. The application of nitrogen remarkably increased CAT and POD activities in leaf, while MDA content was decreased with the increase of nitrogen level. Under well-watered condition, the root biomass, root length and root surface area in the soil layer below 40 cm and total root surface area were significantly reduced by nitrogen application, however, only N1 could increase leaf protective enzyme activities. Correlation analysis showed that the root length in 20-40 cm soil layer and SOD, CAT, POD activities in leaf were highly significantly related with peanut yield.