Epidemiological trends and virological traits of hepatitis B virus infection in pregnant women and neonates.

In infants, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections are mainly acquired by mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). Current tests for the presence of HBV markers at birth can neither confirm nor exclude MTCT. The aim of this study was to find an early diagnostic marker of HBV MTCT. From 2011 to 2016, we studied a total of 5999 pregnant women who gave birth at our hospital in Shenzhen City, China. HBsAg-positive mothers and their offspring (n=386 pairs) were tested at birth for HBV markers, and 207 infants were followed up at 7-12 months after birth. The HBsAg-seropositive rate of the pregnant women was 12.5%. Additionally, 28.0%, 36.0%, 98.5% and 6.6% of umbilical cord (UC) blood samples of neonates were found to be positive for HBsAg, HBeAg, anti-HBc and HBV-DNA, respectively, whereas for neonatal femoral venous (FV) blood, the percentages were 16.2%, 38.0%, 98.8% and 2.6%, respectively. Mothers with high HBV DNA loads and those who were HBeAg positive were the most likely to have HBV-positive offspring. Immunoprophylaxis failed in five infants: the difference in median HBV DNA titer between UC blood from infants with and without HBV MTCT was statistically significant, and there was no significant difference in HBV DNA titer between UC blood and in peripheral blood of infants with HBV MTCT. In conclusion, we found that HBeAg positivity and high HBV loads are strong risk factors for MTCT of HBV and that the HBV DNA titer in the UC is a good predictor for HBV MTCT.

[Relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms in IL28B gene and response to interferon treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of rs12979860 and rs8099917 in IL28B gene and the response to interferon treatment in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive patients with chronic hepatitis B patients. METHODS: Peripheral blood samples were collected from 82 HBeAg-positive patients with chronic hepatitis B receiving interferon treatment, including 38 with favorable response to the treatment and 44 without response. IL28B gene was amplified from the chromosomal DNA, and rs8099917 SNP was genotyped based on PCR-RLFP and rs12979860 SNP by sequencing. RESULTS: In the responsive patients, the distribution frequencies of TT and TG+GG genotypes and allele G in SNPrs8099917 were 81.6% (31/38), 18.4% (7/38), and 9.2% (7/76), as compared to the frequencies of 97.7% (43/44), 2.3% (1/44), and 1.1% (1/88) in nonresponsive patients, respectively. The frequencies showed significant differences between the responsive and nonresponsive patients (P=0.014 for genotypes and P=0.025 for allele G). The distribution frequencies of CT genotypes and allele T in SNPrs12979860 showed no differences between the responsive and nonresponsive patients (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: rs8099917 SNP is probably associated with the response to interferon treatment in HBeAg-positive patients with chronic hepatitis B, and Allele G may be predictive of the treatment success.

[The duration and amount of fire (huo hou) in drug processing].

The unique connotations for the special terms such as slow fire (wen huo), strong fire (wu huo), moderate fire (wen wu huo), ma tong fire, husk fire (kang huo), reed fire (lu di huo), mulberry fire (sang cai huo) and charcoal fire (tan huo) are investigated. There are many practical examples of these terms in related literature. The drug process is related to the alchemy in Taoism. The methods of fire control in drug processing are mostly from the literature on Alchemy (dan jing). The expression of these special terms and their connotations are different in various literature, because of their different traditions.