Epidemic patterns of the different influenza virus types and subtypes/lineages for 10 years in Chongqing, China, 2010-2019.

To optimize seasonal influenza control and prevention programs in regions with potentially complicated seasonal patterns. Descriptive epidemiology was used to analyze the etiology of influenza, and chi-square tests were used to compare the epidemic patterns among different influenza virus types and subtypes/lineages. From January 2010 to December 2019, a total of 63,626 ILI cases were reported in Chongqing and 14,136 (22.22%) were laboratory-confirmed influenza cases. The proportions of specimens positive for influenza A and influenza B were 13.32% (8,478/63,626) and 8.86% (5,639/63,626), respectively. The proportion of positive specimens for influenza A reached the highest in winter (23.33%), while the proportion of positive specimens for influenza B reached the highest in spring (11.88%). Children aged 5-14 years old had the highest proportion of positive specimens for influenza. The influenza virus types/subtypes positive was significantly different by seasons and age groups (P<.001), but not by gender (p = .436). The vaccine strains were matched to the circulating influenza virus strains in all other years except for 2018 (vaccine strain was B/Colorado/06/2017; circulating strain was B/Yamagata). The study showed significant variations in epidemic patterns, including seasonal epidemic period and age distributions, among different influenza types, subtypes/lineages in Chongqing. Influenza vaccines matched to the circulating influenza virus strain in nine of the ten years. To prevent and mitigate the influenza outbreaks in this area, high risk population, especially children aged 5-14 years, are encouraged to get vaccinated against influenza before the epidemic seasons.

Association between Phthalate Metabolites and Risk of Endometriosis: A Meta-Analysis.

Objective: The association between phthalates and endometriosis risk is inconclusive. This meta-analysis aims to evaluate the association between five different phthalate metabolites and endometriosis, based on current evidence. Methods: The literature included PubMed, WOS (web of science), and EMBASE, published until 3 March 2019. We selected the related literature and evaluated the relationship between phthalates exposure and endometriosis risk. All statistical analyses were conducted with STATA version 12.0. Results: Data from eight studies were used in this review. The results of this analysis showed that mono-(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP) exposure was potentially associated with endometriosis (OR = 1.246, 95% CI = 1.003-1.549). We have not found positive results in mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), monoethyl phthalate (MEP), monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP) and mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP) analyses (MEHP: OR = 1.089, 95% CI = 0.858-1.383; MEP: OR = 1.073, 95% CI = 0.899-1.282; MBzP: OR = 0.976, 95% CI = 0.810-1.176; MEOHP: OR = 1.282, 95% CI = 0.874-1.881). In subgroup analyses for regions, the associations were significant between MEHHP and endometriosis in Asia (OR = 1.786, 95% CI = 1.005-3.172, I² = 0%), but not in USA (OR = 1.170, 95% CI = 0.949-1.442, I² = 45.6%). Conclusions: Our findings suggested a potential statistical association between MEHHP exposure and endometriosis, particularly, the exposure of MEHHP might be a potential risk for women with endometriosis in Asia. However, positive associations between the other four Phthalate acid esters (PAEs) and endometriosis was not found. Given the weak strength of the results, well-designed cohort studies, with large sample sizes, should be performed in future.

ARID5B gene polymorphisms and the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a meta-analysis.

Genome-wide association studies have implicated several single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the AT-rich interactive domain 5B (ARID5B) gene in children with ALL; however, whether ARID5B variants (rs10821936, rs10994982, rs7089424) are associated with childhood ALL remains controversial. We performed this study to obtain more conclusive results. Eligible studies were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. A total of 26 studies were included. Analyses stratified by ethnicity revealed that three polymorphisms are significantly associated with the odds of childhood ALL in Caucasians, and rs10994982 and rs7089424 with the odds of childhood ALL in Asian populations. Furthermore, subtype analyses provided strong evidence that the three polymorphisms are highly associated with the risk of B-cell ALL. Our findings indicate that the ARID5B variants (rs10821936, rs10994982, rs7089424) are significantly associated with the risk of childhood ALL.

ZAP-70 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have reported that zeta-chain-associated protein kinase 70 (ZAP-70) expression plays a prognostic role in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). However, these results remain controversial. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis to clarify the prognostic value of ZAP-70 expression in CLL. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Relevant studies were searched in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library, and Web of Science up to January 2018. Clinicopathological features and prognostic data were extracted from the studies. We pooled estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and estimated the heterogeneity of studies using Mantel-Haenszel or DerSimonian and Laird method. RESULTS: Twelve studies that included 1956 patients with CLL were eligible for inclusion. The pooled results revealed that increased ZAP-70 expression was significantly associated with poor overall survival (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.48, 95% CI: 1.72-3.59, P = 0.019, I2 = 53.0%) and event-free survival (HR = 4.17, 95% CI: 2.17-8.01, P = 0.014, I2 = 68.2%) in a random-effects model with significant heterogeneity. Clinicopathological analysis demonstrated that ZAP-70 expression was significantly associated with unmutated immunoglobulin heavy-chain genes, CD38 expression, serum ß-2 microglobulin, and lymphocyte doubling time. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicated that ZAP-70 was a strong prognostic biomarker for patients with CLL.