Long-term follow-up of haploidentical haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in paediatric patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukaemia: Report from a single centre.

Data from 200 children with high-risk acute myeloid leukaemia who underwent their first haploidentical haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT) between 2015 and 2021 at our institution were analysed. The 4-year overall survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS) and cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR) were 71.9%, 62.3% and 32.4% respectively. The 100-day cumulative incidences of grade II-IV and III-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) were 41.1% and 9.5% respectively. The 4-year cumulative incidence of chronic GVHD (cGVHD) was 56.1%, and that of moderate-to-severe cGVHD was 27.3%. Minimal residual disease (MRD)-positive (MRD+) status pre-HSCT was significantly associated with lower survival and a higher risk of relapse. The 4-year OS, EFS and CIR differed significantly between patients with MRD+ pre-HSCT (n = 97; 63.4%, 51.4% and 41.0% respectively) and those with MRD-negative (MRD-) pre-HSCT (n = 103; 80.5%, 73.3% and 23.8% respectively). Multivariate analysis also revealed that acute megakaryoblastic leukaemia without Down syndrome (non-DS-AMKL) was associated with extremely poor outcomes (hazard ratios and 95% CIs for OS, EFS and CIR: 3.110 (1.430-6.763), 3.145 (1.628-6.074) and 3.250 (1.529-6.910) respectively; p-values were 0.004, 0.001 and 0.002 respectively). Thus, haplo-HSCT can be a therapy option for these patients, and MRD status pre-HSCT significantly affects the outcomes. As patients with non-DS-AMKL have extremely poor outcomes, even with haplo-HSCT, a combination of novel therapies is urgently needed.

Greenhouse gas emission in the whole process of forest fire including rescue: a case of forest fire in Beibei District of Chongqing.

In the context of global high temperature, the harm of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions caused by frequent forest fires to the environment cannot be ignored. Existing research only calculates the GHG generated by the burning of forest vegetation, ignoring the GHG generated by the fire-driven social rescue activities. Taking the forest fire in Beibei District, Chongqing City, China, as an example, this paper studies and establishes the GHG emission accounting method for the whole process of forest fire from ignition to fire extinguishing through three processes: vegetation burning, rescue transportation, and on-site fire extinguishing. It covers three GHG calculation types: biomass burning, traffic activity level comprehensive energy consumption, and machine energy consumption. Among them, the CO2 produced by the burning of coniferous forest, the support transportation of rescue teams in Yunnan province, and the motorcycle transportation at the fire extinguishing site accounted for a relatively high proportion in the corresponding processes, reaching 12,761.445 t, 118.750 t, and 1056.980 t, respectively. Finally, through data analysis, suggestions on GHG emission reduction related to forest tree regulation and optimization of rescue and fire extinguishing management are put forward, which provides a direction for future research on carbon reduction in the whole process of forest fire events.

2-bit coding metasurface with a double layer random flip structure for wide band diffuse reflection and reciprocity protected transmission.

Coding metasurfaces based on random-flip structures have attracted great attention due to their ability to achieve distortion-free transmission and diffuse reflection simultaneously. However, previous implementation based on 1-bit coding metasurface has a narrow bandwidth and insufficient bandwidth coverage in the near infrared region. Here, we propose a novel vertical 2-bit coding metasurface composed of double-layer random-flip meta-atoms (DLRFM). while the main transmission lobe is unchanged, the zero-order diffraction intensity of DLRFM's reflection direction is less than 10% of the total reflection in the range of 0°âˆ¼ 30° incidence angle, which proves its excellent diffuse reflection and distortion-free transmission effect. Such design strategy can be extended to multiple wide band coverage in near-infrared regime by tailoring the geometric parameters, which indicates good application potential in advanced display and lens designs.

Co-Influence of Nanofiller Content and 3D Printing Parameters on Mechanical Properties of Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU)/Halloysite Nanotube (HNT) Nanocomposites.

Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) belongs to a polyurethane family that possesses an elongation much higher than 300%, despite having low mechanical strength, which can be overcome by incorporating clay-based halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) as additives to manufacture TPU/HNT nanocomposites. This paper focuses on the co-influence of HNT content and 3D printing parameters on the mechanical properties of 3D printed TPU/HNT nanocomposites in terms of tensile properties, hardness, and abrasion resistance via fused deposition modelling (FDM). The optimum factor-level combination for different responses was determined with the aid of robust statistical Taguchi design of experiments (DoEs). Material characterisation was also carried out to evaluate the surface morphology, nanofiller dispersion, chemical structure, thermal stability, and phase behaviour corresponding to the DoE results obtained. It is evidently shown that HNT level and infill density play a significant role in impacting mechanical properties of 3D-printed TPU/HNT nanocomposites.

Inverse design of photonic crystal filters with arbitrary correlation and size for accurate spectrum reconstruction.

Spectroscopic technique based on nanophotonic filters can recover spectral information through compressive sensing theory. The spectral information is encoded by nanophotonic response functions and decoded by computational algorithms. They are generally ultracompact, low in cost, and offer single-shot operation with spectral resolution better than 1 nm. Thus, they could be ideally suited for emerging wearable and portable sensing and imaging applications. Previous work has revealed that successful spectral reconstruction relies on well-designed filter response functions with sufficient randomness and low mutual correlation, but no thorough discussion has been performed on the filter array design. Here, instead of blind selection of filter structures, inverse design algorithms are proposed to obtain a photonic crystal filter array with predefined correlation coefficients and array size. Such rational spectrometer design can perform accurate reconstruction for a complex spectrum and maintain the performance under noise perturbation. We also discuss the impact of correlation coefficient and array size on the spectrum reconstruction accuracy. Our filter design method can be extended to different filter structures and suggests a better encoding component for reconstructive spectrometer applications.

Dual blockages of a broad and potent neutralizing IgM antibody targeting GH loop of EV-As.

The reported enterovirus A 71 (EVA71) vaccines and immunoglobin G (IgG) antibodies have no cross-antiviral efficacy against other enterovirus A (EV-A) which caused hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). Here we constructed an IgM antibody (20-IgM) based on our previous discovery to address the resistance encountered by IgG-based immunotherapy. Although binding to the same conserved neutralizing epitope within the GH loop of EV-As VP1, the antiviral breath and potency of 20-IgM are still higher than its parental 20-IgG1. The 20-IgM blocks the interaction between the EV-As and its receptors, scavenger receptor class B, member 2 (SCARB2) and Kringle-containing transmembrane protein 1(KREMEN1) of the host cell. The 20-IgM also neutralizes the EV-As at the post-attachment stages, including postattachment neutralization, uncoating and RNA release inhibition after internalization. Mechanistically, the dual blockage effect of 20-IgM is dependent on both a conserved site targeting and high affinity binding. Meanwhile, 20-IgM provides cross-antiviral efficacy in EV-As orally infected neonatal ICR mice. Collectively, 20-IgM and its property exhibit excellent antiviral activity with a dual-blockage inhibitory effect at both the pre- and post-attachment stages. The finding enhances our understanding of IgM-mediated immunity and highlights the potential of IgM subtype antibodies against enterovirus infections.

Transcriptome analysis of critical genes related to flowering in Mikania micrantha at different altitudes provides insights for a potential control.

BACKGROUND: Mikania micrantha is a vine with strong invasion ability, and its strong sexual reproduction ability is not only the main factor of harm, but also a serious obstacle to control. M. micrantha spreads mainly through seed production. Therefore, inhibiting the flowering and seed production of M. micrantha is an effective strategy to prevent from continuing to spread. RESULT: The flowering number of M. micrantha is different at different altitudes. A total of 67.01 Gb of clean data were obtained from nine cDNA libraries, and more than 83.47% of the clean reads were mapped to the reference genome. In total, 5878 and 7686 significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found in E2 vs. E9 and E13 vs. E9, respectively. Based on the background annotation and gene expression, some candidate genes related to the flowering pathway were initially screened, and their expression levels in the three different altitudes in flower bud differentiation showed the same trend. That is, at an altitude of 1300 m, the flower integration gene and flower meristem gene were downregulated (such as SOC1 and AP1), and the flowering inhibition gene was upregulated (such as FRI and SVP). Additionally, the results showed that there were many DEGs involved in the hormone signal transduction pathway in the flower bud differentiation of M. micrantha at different altitudes. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide abundant sequence resources for clarifying the underlying mechanisms of flower bud differentiation and mining the key factors inhibiting the flowering and seed production of M. micrantha to provide technical support for the discovery of an efficient control method.

High-quality genome assembly and pan-genome studies facilitate genetic discovery in mung bean and its improvement.

Mung bean is an economically important legume crop species that is used as a food, consumed as a vegetable, and used as an ingredient and even as a medicine. To explore the genomic diversity of mung bean, we assembled a high-quality reference genome (Vrad_JL7) that was ∼479.35 Mb in size, with a contig N50 length of 10.34 Mb. A total of 40,125 protein-coding genes were annotated, representing ∼96.9% of the genetic region. We also sequenced 217 accessions, mainly landraces and cultivars from China, and identified 2,229,343 high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Population structure revealed that the Chinese accessions diverged into two groups and were distinct from non-Chinese lines. Genetic diversity analysis based on genomic data from 750 accessions in 23 countries supported the hypothesis that mung bean was first domesticated in south Asia and introduced to east Asia probably through the Silk Road. We constructed the first pan-genome of mung bean germplasm and assembled 287.73 Mb of non-reference sequences. Among the genes, 83.1% were core genes and 16.9% were variable. Presence/absence variation (PAV) events of nine genes involved in the regulation of the photoperiodic flowering pathway were identified as being under selection during the adaptation process to promote early flowering in the spring. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) revealed 2,912 SNPs and 259 gene PAV events associated with 33 agronomic traits, including a SNP in the coding region of the SWEET10 homolog (jg24043) involved in crude starch content and a PAV event in a large fragment containing 11 genes for color-related traits. This high-quality reference genome and pan-genome will provide insights into mung bean breeding.

Chemiluminescence based on UV-assisted persulfate activation for sensitive detection of triphenyl phosphate.

Triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), a typical kind of organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) with aryl groups, has been recognized as an emerging contaminant that causes environmental and health hazards. It is a pervasive threat that can be frequently detected in the environment and living organisms. Hence, establishing an efficient analytical method for TPHP is an urgent issue. In this work, a heteropolyacid (HPA)-luminol chemiluminescence strategy coupled with UV-assisted persulfate (PS) activation was proposed for the sensitive and selective detection of TPHP. The UV-assisted PS oxidation pretreatment could decompose the water-insoluble TPHP into smaller orthophosphates, which were further converted into HPA with the subsequently introduced vanadium­molybdenum acid. The formed HPA served as a catalyst to oxidize luminol, and strong chemiluminescence at 425 nm was generated immediately. Furthermore, the degradation process of TPHP and chemiluminescence mechanism were also investigated. The results demonstrated that some reactive oxygen radicals such as SO4-, OH, 1O2, and O2-, were involved in the degradation and chemiluminescence reaction. Notably, this proposed chemiluminescence analytical strategy realized a highly sensitive detection for TPHP, and granted the limit of detection down to 0.38 ppt. This study provides an attractive perspective for the detection of emerging OPFRs.

Transcriptomic Characterization of Odorant Binding Proteins in Cacia cretifera thibetana and Their Association with Different Host Emitted Volatiles.

This study characterized the transcriptome of Cacia cretifera thibetana and explored odorant binding proteins (OBPs) and their interaction with host-specific compounds. A total of 36 samples from six different organs including antennae, head, thorax, abdomen, wings, and legs (12 groups with 3 replicates per group) from both male and female insects were collected for RNA extraction. Transcriptomic analysis revealed a total of 89,897 transcripts as unigenes, with an average length of 1036 bp. Between male and female groups, 31,095 transcripts were identified as differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The KEGG pathway analysis revealed 26 DEGs associated with cutin, suberine, and wax biosynthesis and 70, 48, and 62 were linked to glycerophospholipid metabolism, choline metabolism in cancer, and chemokine signaling pathways, respectively. A total of 31 OBP genes were identified. Among them, the relative expression of 11 OBP genes (OBP6, 10, 12, 14, 17, 20, 22, 26, 28, 30, and 31) was confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR in different tissues. Seven OBP genes including CcreOBP6 and CcreOBP10 revealed antennae-specific expression. Further, we selected two OBPs (CcreOBP6 and CcreOBP10) for functional analysis to evaluate their binding affinity with 20 host odorant compounds. The CcreOBP6 and CcreOBP10 exhibited strong binding affinities with terpineol and trans-2-hexenal revealing their potential as an attractant or repellent for controlling C. cretifera thibetana.

Retrospective analysis of data from 73 patients with childhood acute promyelocytic leukaemia receiving modified chemotherapy: a single-centre study.

PURPOSE: Early death (ED) and treatment-related toxicity emerge as two major barriers for curing paediatric acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) patients. This study aims to investigate the effect of idarubicin on controlling hyperleukocytosis in induction therapy and the efficacy and safety of a risk-adapted attenuated consolidation chemotherapy. METHODS: We summarised the characteristics and long-term outcomes of 73 paediatric APL patients treated at our institution from February 2002 to October 2018, during which treatment protocols evolved over three periods and were defined as protocol A, B and C chronologically. All of the patients received an all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-arsenic trioxide (ATO) combination remission induction therapy, with hydroxyurea (group A) or idarubicin (group B and C) to control hyperleukocytosis. Consolidation chemotherapy was modified with risk-adapted attenuated intensity and minimised cumulative doses of anthracyclines for group C (144 mg/m2 and 288 mg/m2 of daunorubicin equivalents for standard- and high-risk patients, respectively). RESULTS: The median initial WBC, platelet count, and fibrinogen were 2.9 × 109/L (range 0.9-158.3 × 109/L), 32 × 109/L (range 4-226 × 109/L), and 160 mg/dL (range 53-549 mg/dL), respectively. High-risk and standard-risk were seen in 20.5% and 79.5% of patients, respectively. Three patients (4.1%) suffered early haemorrhagic death. At the end of induction therapy, 68 (93.2%) patients achieved haematologic complete remission (HCR). At a median follow-up of 91.97 months, the estimated 5-year overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) rates for the whole cohort were 95.9 ± 2.3% and 88.7 ± 3.8%, respectively. A comparison of HCR rates and documented instances of toxicity between groups A and B + C showed no significant differences. However, idarubicin significantly reduced the peak WBC count (Z = - 3.292, P = 0.001) and duration of hyperleukocytosis (Z = - 2.827, P = 0.005). Estimated 3-year EFS (91.7 ± 8.0%) and OS (100%) rates for group C were not significantly different from those for group B, whereas the risk of treatment-related infections was significantly reduced (χ2 = 5.515, P = 0.019). CONCLUSIONS: Idarubicin (8-10 mg/m2/day for 2 days) for hyperleukocytosis control in induction therapy is safe and effective for paediatric APL. Risk-adapted attenuated consolidation chemotherapy is advocated.

Preparation of Graphene-Co/Ni/Fe3O4 Nanocomposites and Their Electrocatalytic Activity for Reduction of p-Nitrophenol.

Graphene-based nanocomposites of graphene-Co, graphene-Ni, and graphene-Fe3O4 were synthesized via improved chemical-carbothermal reduction using graphite and nitrates as starting materials. The Co, Ni, and Fe3O4 nanoparticles are uniformly loaded on the surfaces of graphene nanosheets without serious folds and conglomeration. The average dimensions of the Co, Ni, and Fe3O4 nanoparticles attached to graphene are approximately 50, 60, and 5 nm, respectively. Subsequently, three novel types of graphene-Co/Ni/Fe3O4 nanocomposite-modified glassy carbon electrodes (GCEs) were fabricated, and their electrocatalytic activity for reduction of p-nitrophenol was investigated by cyclic voltammetry in phosphate buffer solution. Results show that the current values increase as the scanning rate is increased from 70 mV·s-1 to 100 mV·s-1 and that the electrochemical reactions on the surface of the graphene-Co/Ni/Fe3O4-modified GCEs are diffusion controlled. Compared with the bare GCE, the graphene-Co/Ni/Fe3O4 nanocomposite-modified GCEs display considerably higher reduction peak current, which proves that the graphene-Co/Ni/Fe3O4 nanocomposites possess favorable electrocatalytic ability for reduction of p-nitrophenol.

Ag/MnO2 Nanorod as Electrode Material for High-Performance Electrochemical Supercapacitors.

A one-dimensional hierarchical Ag nanoparticle (AgNP)/MnO2 nanorod (MND) nanocomposite was synthesized by combining a simple solvothermal method and a facile reduction approach in situ. Owing to its high electrical conductivity, the resulting AgNP/MND nanocomposite displayed a high specific capacitance of 314 F g-1 at a current density of 2 A g-1, which was much higher than that of pure MNDs (178 F g-1). Resistances of the electrolyte (Rs) and charge transportation (Rct) of the nanocomposite were much lower than that of pure MNDs. Moreover, the nanocomposite exhibited outstanding long-term cycling ability (9% loss of initial capacity after 1000 cycles). These results indicated that the nanocomposite could serve as a promising and useful electrode material for future energy-storage applications.

Quantitative trait locus mapping under irrigated and drought treatments based on a novel genetic linkage map in mungbean (Vigna radiata L.).

KEY MESSAGE: A novel genetic linkage map was constructed using SSR markers and stable QTLs were identified for six drought tolerance related-traits using single-environment analysis under irrigation and drought treatments. Mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) is one of the most important leguminous food crops. However, mungbean production is seriously constrained by drought. Isolation of drought-responsive genetic elements and marker-assisted selection breeding will benefit from the detection of quantitative trait locus (QTLs) for traits related to drought tolerance. In this study, we developed a full-coverage genetic linkage map based on simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from an intra-specific cross between two drought-resistant varieties. This novel map was anchored with 313 markers. The total map length was 1010.18 cM across 11 linkage groups, covering the entire genome of mungbean with a saturation of one marker every 3.23 cM. We subsequently detected 58 QTLs for plant height (PH), maximum leaf area (MLA), biomass (BM), relative water content, days to first flowering, and seed yield (Yield) and 5 for the drought tolerance index of 3 traits in irrigated and drought environments at 2 locations. Thirty-eight of these QTLs were consistently detected two or more times at similar linkage positions. Notably, qPH5A and qMLA2A were consistently identified in marker intervals from GMES5773 to MUS128 in LG05 and from Mchr11-34 to the HAAS_VR_1812 region in LG02 in four environments, contributing 6.40-20.06% and 6.97-7.94% of the observed phenotypic variation, respectively. None of these QTLs shared loci with previously identified drought-related loci from mungbean. The results of these analyses might facilitate the isolation of drought-related genes and help to clarify the mechanism of drought tolerance in mungbean.

Dynamic Interaction of Enterovirus 71 and Dendritic Cells in Infected Neonatal Rhesus Macaques.

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is one of the main pathogens responsible for hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD). Infection with EV71 can lead to severe clinical disease via extensive infections of either the respiratory or alimentary tracts in children. Based on the previous pathological study of EV71 infections in neonatal rhesus macaques, our work using this animal model and an EV71 chimera that expresses enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP-EV71) primarily explored where EV71 localizes and proliferates, and the subsequent initiation of the pathological process. The chimeric EGFP-EV71 we constructed was similar to the wild-type EV71 (WT-EV71) virus in its biological characteristics. Similar clinical manifestations and histo-pathologic features were equally displayed in neonatal rhesus macaques infected with either WT-EV71 or EGFP-EV71 via the respiratory route. Fluorescent signal tracing in tissues from the animals infected with EGFP-EV71 showed that EV71 proliferated primarily in the respiratory tract epithelium and the associated lymphoid tissues. Immunofluorescence and flow cytometry analyses revealed that EV71 was able to enter a pre-conventional dendritic cell (DC) population at the infection sites. The viremia identified in the macaques infected by WT-EV71 or EGFP-EV71 was present even in the artificial presence of a specific antibody against the virus. Our results suggest that EV71 primarily proliferates in the respiratory tract epithelium followed by subsequent entry into a pre-cDC population of DCs. These cells are then hijacked by the virus and they can potentially transmit the virus from local sites to other organs through the blood circulation during the infection process. Our results suggest that the EV71 infection process in this DC population does not interfere with the induction of an independent immune response against the EV71 infection in the neonatal macaques.

Development of a high-density genetic linkage map and identification of flowering time QTLs in adzuki bean (Vigna angularis).

A high-density linkage map is crucial for the identification of quantitative trait loci (QTLs), positional cloning, and physical map assembly. Here, we report the development of a high-density linkage map based on specific length amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) for adzuki bean and the identification of flowering time-related QTLs. Through SLAF library construction and Illumina sequencing of a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population, a total of 4425 SLAF markers were developed and assigned to 11 linkage groups (LGs). After binning the SLAF markers that represented the same genotype, the final linkage map of 1628.15 cM contained 2032 markers, with an average marker density of 0.80 cM. Comparative analysis showed high collinearity with two adzuki bean physical maps and a high degree of synteny with the reference genome of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Using this map, one major QTL on LG03 and two minor QTLs on LG05 associated with first flowering time (FLD) were consistently identified in tests over a two-year period. These results provide a foundation that will be useful for future genomic research, such as identifying QTLs for other important traits, positional cloning, and comparative mapping in legumes.

A deep sequencing analysis of transcriptomes and the development of EST-SSR markers in mungbean (Vigna radiata).

Mungbean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) is one of the most important leguminous food crops in Asia. We employed Illumina paired-end sequencing to analyse transcriptomes of three different mungbean genotypes. A total of 38.3-39.8 million pairedend reads with 73 bp lengths were generated. The pooled reads from the three libraries were assembled into 56,471 transcripts. Following a cluster analysis, 43,293 unigenes were obtained with an average length of 739 bp and N50 length of 1176 bp. Of the unigenes, 34,903 (80.6%) had significant similarity to known proteins in the NCBI nonredundant protein database (Nr), while 21,450 (58.4%) had BLAST hits in the Swiss-Prot database (E-value<10⁻5). Further, 1245 differential expression genes were detected among three mungbean genotypes. In addition, we identified 3788 expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) motifs that could be used as potential molecular markers. Among 320 tested loci, 310 (96.5%) yielded amplification products, and 151 (47.0%) exhibited polymorphisms among six mungbean accessions. These transcriptome data and mungbean EST-SSRs could serve as a valuable resource for novel gene discovery and the marker-assisted selective breeding of this species.

Clinical and pathogenic analysis of 507 children with bacterial meningitis in Beijing, 2010-2014.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the clinical characteristics and analyze the pathogens of bacterial meningitis in children. METHODS: Bacterial meningitis cases occurring from January 2010 through December 2014 at Beijing Children's Hospital were reviewed retrospectively. The records of all patients, including data on clinical features and laboratory information, were obtained and analyzed. RESULTS: In total, the cases of 507 pediatric patients seen over a 5-year period were analyzed; 220 of these cases were etiologically confirmed. These patients were classified into four age groups: 29 days to 1 year (n=373, 73.6%), 1-3 years (n=61, 12.0%), 3-6 years (n=41, 8.1%), and >6 years (n=32, 6.3%). The main pathogens identified in this study were Streptococcus pneumoniae (n=73, 33.2%), Escherichia coli (n=24, 10.9%), Enterococcus (n=22, 10.0%), and group B Streptococcus (n=18, 8.2%). All Gram-positive bacteria were sensitive to vancomycin and linezolid. All Gram-negative bacteria were sensitive to meropenem. The total non-susceptibility rate of S. pneumoniae to penicillin was 47.6% (20/42). The resistance rates to ceftriaxone, cefepime, and ceftazidime were 75% (9/12), 55.6% (5/9), and 40% (4/10), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The main pathogen of bacterial meningitis in this study was S. pneumoniae. The antibiotic resistance rates among children with bacterial meningitis are of serious concern.

Fatal influenza A (H5N1) virus Infection in zoo-housed Tigers in Yunnan Province, China.

From 2014 to 2015, three cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza infection occurred in zoo-housed north-east China tigers (Panthera tigris ssp.altaica) and four tigers died of respiratory distress in succession in Yunnan Province, China. We isolated and characterized three highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses from these tigers. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that A/tiger /Yunnan /tig1404 /2014(H5N1) belongs to the provisional subclade 2.3.4.4e which were novel reassortant influenza A (H5N1) viruses with six internal genes from avian influenza A (H5N2) viruses. The HA gene of the isolated A/tiger /Yunnan /tig1412 /2014(H5N1) virus belongs to the subclade 2.3.2.1b. The isolated A/tiger /Yunnan /tig1508/2015 (H5N1) virus was a novel reassortant influenza A (H5N1) virus with three internal genes (PB2, PB1 and M) from H9N2 virus and belongs to the subclade 2.3.2.1c.