[Epidemiological characteristics and influencing factors of Blastocystis hominis infection among children with diarrhea under five years of age in Guangzhou City]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the prevalence and influencing factors of Blastocystis hominis infection among children with diarrhea under five years of age in Guangzhou City.

METHODS

Children with diarrhea under 5 years of age admitted to Guangzhou Children's hospital, Guangzhou Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital and Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center during the period between January 1 and December 31, 2020, were enrolled. Participants' demographics, living environments and health status were collected using questionnaire surveys. Stool samples were collected from participants and nucleic acid was extracted. B. hominis infection was identified using PCR assay and sequence alignment, and the factors affecting B. hominis infection among children with diarrhea under 5 years of age were identified using univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 684 children with diarrhea under 5 years of age were enrolled, including 468 male children and 216 female children, with a mean age of (1.79 ± 1.12) years. The overall prevalence of B. hominis infection was 4.97% [34/684, 95% confidential interval (CI): (3.59%, 6.86%)] among participants, and there was no significant difference in the prevalence of B. hominis infection between children with chronic [7.52% (20/266), 95% CI: (4.92%, 11.33%)] and acute diarrhea [3.35% (14/418), 95% CI: (2.01%, 5.54%)] (χ² = 5.983, P = 0.014). Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified keeping pet [odds ratio (OR) = 6.298, 95% CI: (2.711, 14.633)], drinking non-tap water [OR = 4.522, 95% CI: (1.769, 11.561)], lactose intolerance [OR = 4.221, 95% CI: (1.043, 17.087)], antibiotic use [OR = 0.125, 95% CI: (0.017, 0.944)] and chronic diarrhea [OR = 2.172, 95% CI: (1.018, 4.637)] as factors affecting B. hominis infection among children with diarrhea under 5 years of age in Guangzhou City.

CONCLUSIONS

B. hominis infections is detected in children with diarrhea under five years of age in Guangzhou City. Improving home environments and pet-keeping hygiene is recommended to reduce the likelihood of B. hominis infection among children.

[Clinical analysis of transnasal endoscopic repair of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea]

Objective:To summarize the common clinical types of cerebrospinal fluid（CSF） rhinorrhea and key points of transnasal endoscopic repair of CSF rhinorrhea. To evaluate clinical effects. Method:In 29 patients with cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea, 9 patients with traumatic CSF rhinorrhea, 10 patients with spontaneous CSF rhinorrhea, 7 patients with CSF rhinorrhea after tumour excision, and 3 patients with iatrogenic CSF rhinorrhea. All the 29 patients were treated with transnasal endoscopic repair of CSF rhinorrhea. Result:There were 25 patients were successfully repaired at one time. Three patients developed intracranial infection and 2 patient developed pneumocephalus after surgery, all of them were cured with conservative treatment. All the patients who were followed-up for more than half a year had no recurrence. Conclusion:Transnasal endoscopic repair of CSF rhinorrhea is safe and effective, the success rate of operation is high, it is not easy to recur, and the complications are few. It can be used as the first choice for repairing of CSF rhinorrhea and effective prevention measures. Accurate location of leak, appropriate repair, effective reconstruction of the skull base, continuous drainage of the lumbar cistern when necessary and active prevention of intracranial infection are critical to the success of operation.

Prospects for observing and localizing gravitational-wave transients with Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA

We present our current best estimate of the plausible observing scenarios for the Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA gravitational-wave detectors over the next several years, with the intention of providing information to facilitate planning for multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves. We estimate the sensitivity of the network to transient gravitational-wave signals for the third (O3), fourth (O4) and fifth observing (O5) runs, including the planned upgrades of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. We study the capability of the network to determine the sky location of the source for gravitational-wave signals from the inspiral of binary systems of compact objects, that is binary neutron star, neutron star-black hole, and binary black hole systems. The ability to localize the sources is given as a sky-area probability, luminosity distance, and comoving volume. The median sky localization area (90% credible region) is expected to be a few hundreds of square degrees for all types of binary systems during O3 with the Advanced LIGO and Virgo (HLV) network. The median sky localization area will improve to a few tens of square degrees during O4 with the Advanced LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA (HLVK) network. During O3, the median localization volume (90% credible region) is expected to be on the order of 10 5 , 10 6 , 10 7 Mpc 3 for binary neutron star, neutron star-black hole, and binary black hole systems, respectively. The localization volume in O4 is expected to be about a factor two smaller than in O3. We predict a detection count of 1 - 1 + 12 ( 10 - 10 + 52 ) for binary neutron star mergers, of 0 - 0 + 19 ( 1 - 1 + 91 ) for neutron star-black hole mergers, and 17 - 11 + 22 ( 79 - 44 + 89 ) for binary black hole mergers in a one-calendar-year observing run of the HLV network during O3 (HLVK network during O4). We evaluate sensitivity and localization expectations for unmodeled signal searches, including the search for intermediate mass black hole binary mergers.

[Analysis of clinical features of respiratory epithelial adenomatoid hamartoma in the nasal cavity]

Objective: To analyze the clinical features of respiratory epithelial adenomatoid hamartoma (REAH) in the nasal cavity. Methods: Clinical datas of 23 patients, who were hospitalized in Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, from February 2016 to February 2018 with histopathologically proved REAH in the nasal cavity were reviewed. There were 18 males and 5 females, with the age range from 16 to 71 years old. The most common area, main symptoms, surgical methods and follow-up results were analyzed. Results: The most common area was olfactory cleft (21 cases), and the mainly symptom was nasal congestion (18 cases). All the patients received transnasal endoscopic surgery and had no recurrence during following-up from three months to one year. Conclusions: The most common area of REAH in the nasal cavity is the olfactory cleft. Histopathological result is needed to make a definite diagnosis. Complete surgical resection is the main treatment.

[Progress in diagnosis and management of syncope in children]

Syncope is a common emergency of children and adolescents, which has serious influence on the quality of life. Neurally-mediated syncope, including postural tachycardia syndrome, vasovagal syncope, orthostatic hypotension and orthostatic hypertension, is the main cause of syncope in children and adolescents. The main manifestations of neurally-mediated syncope are diverse, such as dizziness, headache, chest tightness, chest pain, pale complexion, fatigue, pre-syncope and syncope. Although the clinical manifestations are similar, each subtype of syncope has its hemodynamic feature and optimal treatment option. The diagnosis rate of syncope in children has been greatly improved on account of the development of the diagnostic procedures and methods. In recent years, with the promotion of head-up tilt test and drug-provocated head-up tilt test, the hemodynamic classification of neurally-mediated syncope gets continually refined. In recent years, with the effort of clinicians, an appropriate diagnostic protocol for children with syncope has been established. The initial evaluation consists of history taking, physical examination, standing test and standard electrocardiography. After the initial evaluation, some patients could be diagnosed definitely, such as postural tachycardia syndrome, orthostatic hypotension, and situational syncope. Those with a specific entity causing syncope need selective clinical and laboratory investigations. Patients for whom the cause of syncope remained undetermined should undergo head-up tilt test. The precise pathogenesis of neurally-mediated syncope is not entirely clear. In recent years, studies have shown that neurally-mediated syncope may be related to several factors, including hypovolemia, high catecholamine status, abnormal local vascular tension, decreased skeletal muscle pump activity and abnormal neurohumoral factors. Currently based on the possible pathogenesis, the individualized treatment of neurally-mediated syncope has also been studied in-depth. Generally, the management of neurally-mediated syncope includes non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions. Patient education is the fundamental part above all. In addition to exercise training, the first-line treatments mainly include oral rehydration salts, beta adrenoreceptor blockers, and alpha adrenoreceptor agonists. By analyzing the patient's physiological indexes and biomarkers before treatment, the efficacy of medication could be well predicted. The individualized treatment will become the main direction in the future researches.

Synthesis and reaction mechanism of 3-(4-methoxyphenylazo)acrylic acid

Using 4-methoxylphenylhydra zine hydrochloride (1a) as starting material, 2-[2-(4-methoxyphenyl) hydrazono] acetic acid (2a) was prepared after treatment with 1 equivalent of 2-oxoacetic acid, and 3-(4-methoxyphenyldiazo) acrylic acid (3a) was obtained with 2 equivalents of 2-oxoacetic acid through a novel reaction. The mechanism of reaction was analyzed with the help of charge distribution computation. This suggests that the novel reaction depends on the electronegativity of C9, which can be mainly affected by the substituents of the benzene ring.

Computational study of the proton transfer of phenyl urea

The proton transfer between two nitrogen atoms (N1 and N3) in a molecule of phenyl urea is an important process in the synthesis of 1-phenylimidazolidine-2,4-dione. Three pathways of the proton transfer have been investigated using Density Functional Theory (DFT). With negative N1 phenyl urea, the transformed double bond of N1-C2 connects N1, C2, and N3 into a benzene conjugate system, making the structure more stable than negative N3 phenyl urea. Intermolecular proton transfer was found to be the primary manner of protein transfer at 300 K. Both negative N1 and negative N3 exist and the former is primal. The proton transfer is very fast, and the diluted solution may slow down the rate but produce much more negative N1 as well.

SATB1 regulates SPARC expression in K562 cell line through binding to a specific sequence in the third intron

Special AT-rich binding protein 1 (SATB1), a cell type-specific nuclear matrix attachment region (MAR) DNA-binding protein, tethers to a specific DNA sequence and regulates gene expression through chromatin remodeling and HDAC (histone deacetylase complex) recruitment. In this study, a SATB1 eukaryotic expression plasmid was transfected into the human erythroleukemia K562 cell line and individual clones that stably over-expressed the SATB1 protein were isolated. Microarray analysis revealed that hundreds of genes were either up- or down-regulated in the SATB1 over-expressing K562 cell lines. One of these was the extra-cellular matrix glycoprotein, SPARC (human secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine). siRNA knock-down of SATB1 also reduced SPARC expression, which was consistent with elevated SPARC levels in the SATB1 over-expressing cell line. Bioinformatics software Mat-inspector showed that a 17bp DNA sequence in the third intron of SPARC possessed a high potential for SATB1 binding; a finding confirmed by Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) with anti-SATB1 antibody. Our results show for the first time that forced-expression of SATB1 in K562 cells triggers SPARC up-regulation by binding to a 17bp DNA sequence in the third intron.

[Experiment study on biological and immunological characteristics of modified DNL of oral squamous cell carcinoma with TNF-alpha gene]

Growing characteristic of gene-transduced and nontransduced DNL in medium of containing rIL-2 was compared,and growing characteristic of gene-transduced DNL in medium of non containing rIL-2 was analyzed.DNA index (DI),cell cycle and immunologic phenotypes of gene-transduced and nontransduced DNL were analyzed with FACS.The results revealed interfered with growth,DL,cell cycle and immunologic phenotypes of DNL,and gene-transduced DNL couldn't growing infinitely.