Palaeobotanical evidence reveals the living conditions of Miocene Lufengpithecus in East Asia.

BACKGROUND: Understanding the relationship between human evolution and environmental changes is the key to lifting the veil on human origin. The hypothesis that environmental changes triggered the divergence of humans from apes (ca. 9.3-6.5 million years ago, Ma) has been poorly tested because of limited continuous environmental data from fossil localities. Lufengpithecus (12.5-6.0 Ma) found on the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau (SEMTP) across the ape-human split provides a good chance for testing this hypothesis. RESULTS: Here, we reconstructed the habitats of L. keiyuanensis (12.5-11.6 Ma) with comprehensive vegetation, climate, and potential food web data by palaeobotanical evidence, together with other multidisciplinary data and partly tested the environment-driven hypothesis by revealing the living conditions of Lufengpithecus. CONCLUSION: A detailed comparison of hominoids on different continents reveals their behaviour and fate divergence across the ape-human split against the background of global climate change, i.e., the stable living conditions of SEMTP not only provided a so-called 'refuge' for arboreal Lufengpithecus but also acted as a 'double-edged sword', preventing their further evolution while vegetation shifts in East Africa probably stimulated the emergence of human bipedalism, and the intense climatic changes in Europe possibly prevented those hominoids from surviving that time interval. Our findings provide interesting insight into the environmental impacts on the behavioural evolution of hominoids.

New insights into the origin of buckwheat cultivation in southwestern China from pollen data.

Buckwheat is an important crop which originated in China and spread widely across Eurasia. However, exactly where in China domestication took place remains controversial. Archaeological and palynological records suggest a longer cultivation history of buckwheat in northern China than in southwestern China, but this conflicts with phylogenetic evidence implicating southwestern China as the centre of origin and diversity of buckwheat. We investigate alternative methodologies for inferring the occurrence of buckwheat cultivation and suggest that relative abundance could provide a reliable measure for distinguishing between wild and cultivated buckwheat in both present-day and fossil samples. Approximately 12 800-yr palaeoecological record shows that Fagopyrum pollen occurred only infrequently before the early Holocene. As southwestern China entered the early agricultural period, c. 8000-7000 yr ago, a slight increase in abundance of Fagopyrum pollen was observed. Approximately 4000 yr ago, concurrent with the Pu minority beginning to develop dry-land agriculture, the abundance of Fagopyrum pollen increased significantly, suggesting the cultivation of this crop. Fagopyrum pollen rose to a maximum value c. 1270 yr ago, suggesting an intensification of agricultural activity. These findings fill a gap in the Fagopyrum pollen record in southwestern China and provide new indications that early cultivation may have occurred in this region.

Different nasopharynx and oropharynx microbiota imbalance in children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae or influenza virus infection.

BACKGROUND: The Mycoplasma pneumoniae(MP) and influenza virus are two common pathogens causing pediatric acute respiratory tract infection. Though emerging reports demonstrated imbalanced respiratory microbiota in respiratory infection, the respiratory microbiota differences between MP and influenza virus remained to be explored. METHODS: We collected paired nasopharyngeal(NP) and oropharyngeal(OP) microbial samples from 165 children, including 40 patients with MP pneumonia, 66 patients with influenza virus infection and 59 age-matched healthy children. RESULTS: The NP and OP microbial diversity decreased in MP infection and increased in influenza infection as compared to healthy children. The Staphylococcus dominated Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia(MPP) patients' NP microbiota while five representative patterns remained in influenza patients. In OP microbiota, Streptococcus significantly enriched in MPP group and decreased in Influenza group. Decision tree analysis indicated that Ralstonia and Acidobacteria could discriminate microbial samples in healthy (59/67), MP (35/38) and Influenza groups (55/60) with high accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that dominant bacterial structure in the airway was niche- and disease-specific. It could facilitate the stratification of respiratory microbial samples with different infectious agents.

MicroRNA-184 Modulates Human Central Nervous System Lymphoma Cells Growth and Invasion by Targeting iASPP.

Central nervous system lymphoma (CNSL) remains a diagnostical and therapeutical challenge. MiRNAs post-transcriptionally regulate expression of targeted mRNAs through binding to their 3' UTR to inhibit their translation or promote their degradation. Oncoprotein inhibitory member of the ASPP family (iASPP), a key inhibitor of tumor suppressor p53, has been reported to play oncogenic role in cancers. Our present study was aimed to determine whether the miR-184/iASPP axis is involved in the proliferation and invasion of CNSL. A reduced level of miR-184 was observed in CNSL tissues. Exogenous miR-184 inhibited cell survival and invasion, as well as the tumor volumes, while miR-184 inhibition could reverse this process. The RNA and protein levels of iASPP were significantly inhibited by miR-184, and the 3' UTR of iASPP was shown to be a target of miR-184. The expression of iASPP was up-regulated in CNSL tissues, compared to that of the normal brain tissues. The inhibition of iASPP by shRNA iASPP significantly repressed CNSL cells' proliferation and invasion, and reduced the volume of the tumor. Besides, iASPP overexpression could partly restore the suppressive effect of miR-184 on CNSL cell proliferation and invasive capability. We also revealed that miR-184/iASPP axis regulated the proliferation and invasion via PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, which presents a novel potential therapy for intervention of CNSL. Taken together, our findings revealed the detailed role of the miR-184/iASPP axis in CNSL and this axis might modulate the proliferation and invasion of CNSL via regulating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 2645-2653, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Pregnane X receptor is associated with unfavorable survival and induces chemotherapeutic resistance by transcriptional activating multidrug resistance-related protein 3 in colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Although chemotherapy represents a predominant anti-cancer therapeutic modality, drug treatment efficacy is often limited due to the development of resistant tumor cells. The pregnane X receptor (PXR) affects chemotherapeutic effects by regulating targets involved in drug metabolism and transportation, but the regulatory mechanism is poorly understood. METHODS: Oxaliplatin (L-OHP) content in tumor cells was analyzed by mass cytometry. The roles of PXR on cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis and tumor growth with L-OHP-treated were investigated by MTS, colony formation, flow cytometry and xenograft tumor assays. Luciferase reporter, Chromatin-immunoprecipitation and Site-directed mutagenesis were evaluated the mechanisms. The PXR and multidrug resistance-related protein 3 (MRP3) expressions were examined by western blot, RT-PCR or immunohistochemistry of TMA. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression were adopted to analyze the prognostic value of PXR in colorectal cancer (CRC). RESULTS: PXR over-expression significantly increased oxaliplatin (L-OHP) transport capacity with a reduction of its content and repressed the effects of L-OHP on tumour cell proliferation and apoptosis. Conversely, PXR knockdown augments L-OHP-mediated cellular proliferation and apoptosis. Moreover, PXR significantly reduced the therapeutic effects of L-OHP on tumor growth in nude mice. Further studies indicated a positive correlation between PXR and MRP3 expression and this finding was confirmed in two independent cohorts. Significantly increased MRP3 expression was also found in PXR over-expressing cell lines. Mechanistically, PXR could directly bind to the MRP3 promoter, activating its transcription. The PXR binding sites were determined to be at -796 to -782bp (CTGAAGCAGAGGGAA) and the key binding sites were the "AGGGA" (-787 to -783bp) on the MRP3 promoter. Accordingly, blockade of MRP3 diminishes the effects on drug resistance of PXR. In addition, PXR expression is significantly associated with poor overall survival and represents an unfavorable and independent factor for male or stage I + II CRC patient prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: PXR is a potential biomarker for predicting outcome and activates MRP3 transcription by directly binding to its promoter resulting in an increased L-OHP efflux capacity, and resistance to L-OHP or platinum drugs in CRC. Our work reveals a novel and unique mechanism of drug resistance in CRC.

Amplification and overexpression of PSCA at 8q24 in invasive micropapillary carcinoma of breast.

PURPOSE: Invasive micropapillary carcinoma (IMPC) of the breast has distinct histological features and molecular genetic profiles. Gains/amplifications of 8q24 are found associated with IMPC. Although the prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) gene is located at chromosome 8q24, and found over-expressed in prior studies, its prognostic values and biological significance in IMPC have not been well studied. METHODS: Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to assess the frequencies of PSCA copy number gains in IMPC, invasive ductal carcinoma of no special type (IDC-NST), and invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) samples. The protein expression levels of PSCA were examined in 56 IMPC, 72 IDC-NST, and 56 ILC samples using immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS: PSCA gene amplification was detected in 45.2% (14/31) of the IMPC, 28.1% (9/32) of the IDC-NST, and none (0/25) of the ILC. PSCA protein expression was observed in 58.9% (33/56), 40.3% (29/72), and 3.6% (2/56) of IMPC, IDC-NST, and ILC samples, respectively. The concordant rate of the immunohistochemistry and FISH data was 85.2%. PSCA gene amplification highly correlated with its protein overexpression (rs = 0.687, P < 0.001), suggesting that gene amplification is an important mechanism involved in PSCA overexpression. Our univariate analysis showed that the patients with PSCA-positive IMPC had a decreased disease-free survival (DFS) compared to PSCA-negative IMPC patients (P = 0.003). Our multivariate analysis confirmed the worse DFS in PSCA-positive IMPC patients (P = 0.022). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that PSCA may be an attractive target in the 8q24 amplicon and that it may serve as a molecular marker of metastasis and recurrence in IMPC. The differential expression of PSCA may be associated with cell adhesion. Detection of PSCA protein and gene amplification may help manage and predict the prognosis of IMPC patients.

Pollen identification of three notorious illicit drug plants and its potential applications in forensic practice.

Opium poppy, coca and cannabis are raw materials for three notorious illicit drugs. For a long time, drug lords have been growing and smuggling these drugs in a variety of ways and channels and are continually finding new ways of trafficking their wares, which has led to the increasing difficulty of global drug enforcement. In the present paper, we propose an innovative pollen identification system for these important drug plants, which provides a tool for screening and detection of the drugs to aid in drug enforcement. By utilizing the characteristics of these fine particles, their abundant production, and high resistance to decay, we believe this tool could be applied in the following scenarios: detecting and dynamically monitoring drug cultivation activities; determining whether a suspect has been to fields of drug plants and determining whether the site has ever been planted with a drug plant and/or was involved in drug production. In the future, combined with microscope automatic image acquisition technology and intelligent image recognition technology, this pollen identification system is expected to be used to screen three notorious illicit drug plants, thus enhancing the efficiency of drug related crime investigations.

Longitudinal axial flow rice thresher feeding rate monitoring based on force sensing resistors.

The threshing unit is the main working unit of the combine harvester and plays an essential role in rice threshing efficiency, seed loss, and damage. Every thresher has its limitation for feeding, and when the feeding quantity exceeds the maximum rated amount, the thresher gets blocked, resulting in higher losses, low threshing efficiency, more power consumption, and combine overloading shutting down. This study constructed a longitudinal axial flow rice threshing platform, and a stress monitoring system for the threshing drum top cover was designed using force sensing resistors. The sensors were installed on the thresher top cover inner surface to detect the impact and extrusion forces caused by the threshing process and detect the feeding rate when it exceeds the suitable feeding. Three feeding rates (0.8, 1.1, and 1.4 kg/s) and three thresher speeds (1100, 1300, and 1500 rpm) were tested. The time of the testing process was calculated using high-speed photography. The obtained results revealed that the force signals collected by thin-film sensors significantly correlated with thresher rotating speed and feeding rate. The thresher top cover's average stress, average strain, and average total deformation were simulated using ANSYS finite element analysis. This study provides a new method for threshing drum real-time feeding quantity monitoring and early warning of thresher blockage.

Bridging the knowledge gap on the evolution of the Asian monsoon during 26-16 Ma.

The evolution of the Asian monsoon from the Late Oligocene to the Early Miocene is poorly understood. Here, we first reconstruct the precipitation data of central Tibet during 26-16 million years ago (Ma), applying the coexistence approach to sedimentary pollen data, and detect an intensified Asian monsoon with ∼1.35 Ma and ∼0.33 Ma cycles. Paleoclimate modeling is used to show the importance of paleogeographic location in the development of the paleomonsoon. In addition, the results of spectral analysis suggest that the fluctuations in the Asian monsoon during 26-16 Ma can be attributed to the long-period cyclicities in obliquity (∼1.2 Ma). These findings provide climate data that can be used to understand the Asian monsoon evolution during the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene and highlight the effects of paleogeographic patterns and long-period orbital forcings on the tectonic-scale evolution of the Asian monsoon.

Vascular NRP2 triggers PNET angiogenesis by activating the SSH1-cofilin axis.

BACKGROUND: Angiogenesis is a critical step in the growth of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) and may be a selective target for PNET therapy. However, PNETs are robustly resistant to current anti-angiogenic therapies that primarily target the VEGFR pathway. Thus, the mechanism of PNET angiogenesis urgently needs to be clarified. METHODS: Dataset analysis was used to identify angiogenesis-related genes in PNETs. Immunohistochemistry was performed to determine the relationship among Neuropilin 2 (NRP2), VEGFR2 and CD31. Cell proliferation, wound-healing and tube formation assays were performed to clarify the function of NRP2 in angiogenesis. The mechanism involved in NRP2-induced angiogenesis was detected by constructing plasmids with mutant variants and performing Western blot, and immunofluorescence assays. A mouse model was used to evaluate the effect of the NRP2 antibody in vivo, and clinical data were collected from patient records to verify the association between NRP2 and patient prognosis. RESULTS: NRP2, a VEGFR2 co-receptor, was positively correlated with vascularity but not with VEGFR2 in PNET tissues. NRP2 promoted the migration of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) cultured in the presence of conditioned medium PNET cells via a VEGF/VEGFR2-independent pathway. Moreover, NRP2 induced F-actin polymerization by activating the actin-binding protein cofilin. Cofilin phosphatase slingshot-1 (SSH1) was highly expressed in NRP2-activating cofilin, and silencing SSH1 ameliorated NRP2-activated HUVEC migration and F-actin polymerization. Furthermore, blocking NRP2 in vivo suppressed PNET angiogenesis and tumor growth. Finally, elevated NRP2 expression was associated with poor prognosis in PNET patients. CONCLUSION: Vascular NRP2 promotes PNET angiogenesis by activating the SSH1/cofilin/actin axis. Our findings demonstrate that NRP2 is an important regulator of angiogenesis and a potential therapeutic target of anti-angiogenesis therapy for PNET.

The epidemic of erythromycin-resistant Bordetella pertussis with limited genome variation associated with pertussis resurgence in China.

BACKGROUND: The resurgence of Bordetella pertussis infections leading to whooping cough is a concern in many parts of the world. The number of pertussis cases in China has increased significantly since 2013. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In this study, whole-genome sequencing analysis was performed for 388 B. pertussis strains isolated in China from the 1970s to 2018, combining 594 published strains from around the world. RESULTS: This study revealed that lineage V diverged about 50 years ago in China, while lineage IV is dominant in the other countries. It also revealed that the erythromycin-resistant sub-lineages Va, Vb, and Vc with limited genomic variation emerged 11 ~ 12 years ago. These three sub-lineages were identified after the co-purified acellular vaccines (cp-ACVs) completely replaced the previous whole cell vaccines (WCVs) after the national immunization program of 2012. It suggests that the cp-ACVs cannot induce immunity that is potent enough to restrict the spread of the lineage V, antibiotic abuse further favors the spread of this lineage in China. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demand a reassessment of the immunization strategy and development of new vaccines in China to stop the resurgence and drug resistance of B. pertussis.

Three-dimensional printing of facial contour based on preoperative computer simulation and its clinical application.

Facial contouring is a complex procedure performed to alter tissue contents and restore facial appearance. However, it is difficult to measure the amount of the tissue volume that is needed. This study demonstrated the use of preoperative computer simulation (PCS) and 3-dimensional (3D) printing in contouring procedure to maximize outcomes.Three-dimensional surface imaging (3DSI) or computed tomography imaging (CTI) data were reconstructed into a 3D model by Mimics software. PCS was performed by simulating the changes in bone and soft tissue. The stimulating volume change was calculated by Boolean operations. Finally, the virtual model was exported into 3D printer to produce physical templates to guide surgical plan. PCS and actual postoperative results were compared using objective rating scales and by cephalometrical measurements.With the direct guidance of PCS and 3D templates, contouring procedure was performed accurately. Satisfactory facial contouring was achieved with less operative time. As the plastic surgery panel rated, 45.8% of the 3DSI results and 41.7% of the CTI results were identical with the actual outcome, and 0% of them was poor. There were no significant differences in patient satisfaction between the PCS of 3DSI and CTI.Preoperative computer simulation is an accurate method for designing contour adjustment plans, and can be an efficient and reliable predictor of outcomes with customized templates.

Clinical association between pre-treatment levels of plasma fibrinogen and bone metastatic burden in newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: Due to the different treatments for low-volume metastatic prostate cancer (PCa) as well as high-volume ones, evaluation of bone metastatic status is clinically significant. In this study, we evaluated the correlation between pre-treatment plasma fibrinogen and the burden of bone metastasis in newly diagnosed PCa patients. METHODS: A single-center retrospective analysis, focusing on prostate biopsies of newly diagnosed PCa patients, was performed. A total of 261 patients were enrolled in this study in a 4-year period. All subjects were submitted to single-photon emission computerized tomography-computed tomography to confirm the status of bone metastasis and, if present, the number of metastatic lesions would then be calculated. Clinical information such as age, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), fibrinogen, clinical T stage, and Gleason score were collected. Patients were divided into three groups: (i) a non-metastatic group, (ii) a high volume disease (HVD) group (>3 metastases with at least one lesion outside the spine), and (iii) a low volume disease (LVD) group (metastatic patients excluding HVD ones). The main statistical methods included non-parametric Mann-Whitney test, Spearman correlation, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and logistic regression. RESULTS: Fibrinogen positively correlated with Gleason score (r = 0.180, P = 0.003), PSA levels (r = 0.216, P < 0.001), and number of metastatic lesions (r = 0.296, P < 0.001). Compared with the non-metastatic and LVD groups, the HVD group showed the highest PSA (104.98 ng/mL, median) and fibrinogen levels (3.39 g/L, median), as well as the largest proportion of Gleason score >7 (86.8%). Both univariate (odds ratio [OR] = 2.16, 95% confidential interval [CI]: 1.536-3.038, P < 0.001) and multivariate (OR = 1.726, 95% CI: 1.206-2.472, P = 0.003) logistic regressions showed that fibrinogen was independently associated with HVD. The ROC curve suggested that fibrinogen acts as a predictor of HVD patients, yielding a cut-off of 3.08 g/L, with a sensitivity of 0.684 and a specificity of 0.760 (area under the curve = 0.739, 95% CI: 0.644-0.833, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Pre-treatment plasma fibrinogen is positively associated with bone metastatic burden in PCa patients. Our results indicate that fibrinogen might be a potential predictor of HVD.

The changing phenotypes and genotypes of invasive pneumococcal isolates from children in Shenzhen during 2013-2017.

BACKGROUND: The phenotypes and genotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPDs) were changing all the time. To monitor these changes of phenotypes and genotypes of S. pneumoniae isolates from children, we examined antibiotic susceptibility, serotype distribution and sequence types (STs) of S. pneumoniae, which were isolated before the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) introduced into China. METHODS: Strains were isolated from children less than 14 years old between January 2013 and May 2017 from Shenzhen Children's Hospital. Serotypes, antibiotic resistance, and genotypes of these isolates were determined using capsular swelling, E-test, and multi-locus sequence typing, respectively. RESULTS: A total of 94 S. pneumoniae strains were isolated, which belonged to 15 serotypes. The five most prevalent serotypes were 19F (25.5%), 19A (19%), 14 (17%), 23F (7.5%), and 6B (9.6%). We found 42 STs for these isolates. The most abundant STs were ST271 (24.4%), ST876 (17%), and ST320 (10.6%), mainly related to 19F, 14, and 19A, respectively. The potential coverage of PCV13 was 87.2%. Among non-meningitis isolates, the resistance rates to penicillin and ceftriaxone were 0% and 2%. However, the meningitis isolates showed high resistance to penicillin (80%) and ceftriaxone (20%). Most of these isolates (95.7%) were resistant to erythromycin, and 66 (70.2%) strains carried the ermB gene and 24 (25.5%) strains carried both the ermB and mefA/E genes. Serotype 19A showed the highest mean minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for penicillin (MIC = 1.486) than the other serotypes, but no significant difference in penicillin MIC among the three main STs (ST271, ST320, and ST876). CONCLUSIONS: The phenotypes and genotypes of invasive pneumococcal isolates from Shenzhen Children's Hospital have changed with the passage of time. Compared with PCV7, PCV13 can more effectively protect Chinese children from IPDs. To some extent, these changes are possibly related to the usage of antibiotics and vaccines.

Lung Microbiota and Pulmonary Inflammatory Cytokines Expression Vary in Children With Tracheomalacia and Adenoviral or Mycoplasma pneumoniae Pneumonia.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a worldwide infectious disease caused by bacteria, viruses, or a combination of these infectious agents. Mycoplasma pneumoniae is an atypical pneumonia pathogen that causes high morbidity and mortality in children, and adenovirus can lead to severe pneumonia. However, the etiology of different types of pneumonia is still unclear. In this study, we selected a total of 52 inpatients with M. pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) (n = 21), adenovirus pneumonia (AVP) (n = 16), or tracheomalacia (n = 15) to serve as a disease control. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples that had been obtained for clinical use were analyzed. We compared the differences in microbiota and the expression of 10 inflammatory cytokines in samples between MPP, AVP, and tracheomalacia. We found that the bacterial diversity in MPP was lower than that in AVP and tracheomalacia. Mycoplasma, Streptococcus, and Pseudomonas were predominant in samples of MPP, AVP, and tracheomalacia, respectively. The expression levels of IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10 were significantly higher in inpatients with AVP compared to children hospitalized with tracheomalacia or MPP. The lung microbiota in MPP was remarkably correlated with IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1α expressions, while this was not found in tracheomalacia and AVP. Microbiota analysis identified a high load of multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in the lung microbiota of several inpatients, which might be associated with the long hospitalization length and intra-group differences at the individual level. This study will help to understand the microbial etiology of tracheomalacia, AVP, and MPP and to identify effective therapies for these diseases.

An integrated respiratory microbial gene catalogue to better understand the microbial aetiology of Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia.

BACKGROUND: The imbalanced respiratory microbiota observed in pneumonia causes high morbidity and mortality in childhood. Respiratory metagenomic analysis demands a comprehensive microbial gene catalogue, which will significantly advance our understanding of host-microorganism interactions. RESULTS: We collected 334 respiratory microbial samples from 171 healthy children and 76 children with pneumonia. The respiratory microbial gene catalogue we established comprised 2.25 million non-redundant microbial genes, covering 90.52% of prevalent genes. The major oropharyngeal microbial species found in healthy children were Prevotella and Streptococcus. In children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP), oropharyngeal microbial diversity and associated gene numbers decreased compared with those of healthy children. The concurrence network of oropharyngeal microorganisms in patients predominantly featured Staphylococcus spp. and M. pneumoniae. Functional orthologues, which are associated with the metabolism of various lipids, membrane transport, and signal transduction, accumulated in the oropharyngeal microbiome of children with pneumonia. Several antibiotic resistance genes and virulence factor genes were identified in the genomes of M. pneumoniae and 13 other microorganisms reconstructed via metagenomic data. Although the common macrolide/ß-lactam resistance genes were not identified in the assembled M. pneumoniae genome, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (A2063G) related to macrolide resistance was identified in a 23S ribosomal RNA gene. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study will facilitate exploration of unknown microbial components and host-microorganism interactions in studies of the respiratory microbiome. They will also yield further insights into the microbial aetiology of MPP.

Distinct Nasopharyngeal and Oropharyngeal Microbiota of Children with Influenza A Virus Compared with Healthy Children.

BACKGROUND: Influenza A virus (IAV) has had the highest morbidity globally over the past decade. A growing number of studies indicate that the upper respiratory tract (URT) microbiota plays a key role for respiratory health and that a dysfunctional respiratory microbiota is associated with disease; but the impact of microbiota during influenza is understudied. METHODS: We recruited 180 children, including 121 IAV patients and 59 age-matched healthy children. Nasopharyngeal (NP) and oropharyngeal (OP) swabs were collected to conduct 16S rDNA sequencing and compare microbiota structures in different individuals. RESULTS: Both NP and OP microbiota in IAV patients differed from those in healthy individuals. The NP dominated genera in IVA patients, such as Moraxella, Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium, and Dolosigranulum, showed lower abundance than in healthy children. The Streptococcus significantly enriched in patients' NP and Phyllobacterium could be generally detected in patients' NP microbiota. The most abundant genera in OP microbiota showed a decline tendency in patients, including Streptococcus, Neisseria, and Haemophilus. The URT's bacterial concurrence network changed dramatically in patients. NP and OP samples were clustered into subgroups by different dominant genera; and NP and OP microbiota provided the precise indicators to distinguish IAV patients from healthy children. CONCLUSION: This is the first respiratory microbiome analysis on pediatric IAV infection which reveals distinct NP and OP microbiota in influenza patients. It provides a new insight into IAV research from the microecology aspect and promotes the understanding of IAV pathogenesis.

Dataset of pollen morphological traits of 56 dominant species among desert vegetation in the eastern arid central Asia.

The data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled "Pollen spectrum, a cornerstone for tracing the evolution of the eastern central Asian desert" (JQSR 5260) (Lu et al., 2018) [1] In this paper, we supply a dataset, which provides a descriptive and general summary of pollen characteristic of desert dominant species in the eastern arid central Asia (ACA). The other important component is the illustration on pollen grains traits under light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Pollen grains of 56 species are extracted from voucher specimens from the PE herbarium at the Institute of Botany. It is worth noting that these species own special distribution patterns in China. The distribution maps are plotted using the Google Maps and the species distribution data at the county level supplied by the Chinese Virtual Herbarium (http://www.cvh.ac.cn/).

The concordance between upper and lower respiratory microbiota in children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia.

In recent years, the morbidity of Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) has dramatically increased in China. An increasing number of studies indicate that an imbalance in the respiratory microbiota is associated with respiratory infection. We selected 28 hospitalized patients infected with M. pneumoniae and 32 healthy children. Nasopharyngeal (NP) and oropharyngeal (OP) swabs were collected from healthy children, whereas NP, OP and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens were collected from patients. Microbiota analysis was performed on all microbial samples using 16 S ribosomal RNA (16 S rRNA) sequencing. The NP microbial samples in healthy children were divided into two groups, which were dominated by either Staphylococcus or mixed microbial components. The respiratory microbiota in pneumonia patients harbored a lower microbial diversity compared to healthy children, and both the NP and OP microbiota of patients differed significantly from that of healthy children. Hospitalized MPP children with a higher abundance of Mycoplasma in the BAL fluid (BALF) microbiota tended to suffer longer hospitalization lengths and higher peak fevers and serum C-reactive protein levels. Concordance analysis explained the succession of imbalanced NP microbiota to the OP and lung in diseased children. However, the association of the abundance of Mycoplasma in BALF microbiota with that in NP or OP microbiota varied among individuals, which suggested the sensitivity of BALF in MPP diagnostics, mirroring MPP severity.