Hepatitis D virus (HDV) is a defective virus that completes its life cycle only with hepatitis B virus (HBV). The HBV with HDV super-infection has been considered as one of the most severe forms of ...the chronic viral hepatitis. However, there is a scarcity of data on the global burden of HDV infection.
We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and China Knowledge Resource Integrated databases from 1 January 1977 to 31 December 2016. We included studies with a minimum sample size of 50 patients. Our study analysed data from a total of 40 million individuals to estimate the prevalence of HDV by using Der-Simonian Laird random-effects model. The data were further categorised according to risk factors.
From a total of 2717 initially identified studies, only 182 articles from 61 countries and regions met the final inclusion criteria. The overall prevalence of HDV was 0.98% (95% CI 0.61 to 1.42). In HBsAg-positive population, HDV pooled prevalence was 14.57% (95% CI 12.93 to 16.27): Seroprevalence was 10.58% (95% CI 9.14 to 12.11) in mixed population without risk factors of intravenous drug use (IVDU) and high-risk sexual behaviour (HRSB). It was 37.57% (95% CI 29.30 to 46.20) in the IVDU population and 17.01% (95% CI 10.69 to 24.34) in HRSB population.
We found that approximately 10.58% HBsAg carriers (without IVDU and HRSB) were coinfected with HDV, which is twofold of what has been estimated before. We also noted a substantially higher HDV prevalence in the IVDU and HRSB population. Our study highlights the need for increased focus on the routine HDV screening and rigorous implementation of HBV vaccine programme.
The study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors associated with occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) in the global population. We searched PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane ...and Web of Science from database inception through 27 Dec, 2018. Studies reporting HBV‐DNA serological data in previously undiagnosed hepatitis B patients were included. The data were further categorized according to the presence of risk factors. After an initial screening of 2,325 records, we finally included 98 articles about the prevalence of OBI from 34 countries and regions. The OBI prevalence was 0.82% (95% CI:0.69–0.96) in the general population, 16.26% (95% CI:10.97–22.34) in HIV patients, 13.99% (95% CI:8.33–20.79) in patients with other liver diseases, 4.25% (95% CI:1.64–7.87) in haemodialysis patients and 5.14% (95% CI:2.26–9.01) patients with other risk factors. In conclusion, OBI prevalence varies significantly across different populations and nations, which deserve attention from the public health authorities. Our results generate further epidemiological data to identify the population with OBI, which has important clinical implications in finding these high‐risk populations to design preventive and management strategies.
Fatty acyl‐CoA reductase (FAR) is one of the key enzymes, which catalyses the conversion of fatty acyl‐CoA to the corresponding alcohols. Among the FAR family members in the brown planthopper ...(Nilaparvata lugens), NlFAR7 plays a pivotal role in both the synthesis of cuticular hydrocarbons and the waterproofing of the cuticle. However, the precise mechanism by which NlFAR7 influences the formation of the cuticle structure in N. lugens remains unclear. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the impact of NlFAR7 through RNA interference, transmission electron microscope, focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB‐SEM) and lipidomics analysis. FIB‐SEM is employed to reconstruct the three‐dimensional (3D) architecture of the pore canals and related cuticle structures in N. lugens subjected to dsNlFAR7 and dsGFP treatments, enabling a comprehensive assessment of changes in the cuticle structures. The results reveal a reduction in the thickness of the cuticle and disruptions in the spiral structure of pore canals, accompanied by widened base and middle diameters. Furthermore, the lipidomics comparison analysis between dsNlFAR7‐ and dsGFP‐treated N. lugens demonstrated that there were 25 metabolites involved in cuticular lipid layer synthesis, including 7 triacylglycerols (TGs), 5 phosphatidylcholines (PCs), 3 phosphatidylethanolamines (PEs) and 2 diacylglycerols (DGs) decreased, and 4 triacylglycerols (TGs) and 4 PEs increased. In conclusion, silencing NlFAR7 disrupts the synthesis of overall lipids and destroys the cuticular pore canals and related structures, thereby disrupting the secretion of cuticular lipids, thus affecting the cuticular waterproofing of N. lugens. These findings give significant attention with reference to further biochemical researches on the substrate specificity of FAR protein, and the molecular regulation mechanisms during N. lugens life cycle.
Silencing NlFAR7 disrupts the synthesis of cuticular lipids.
Silencing NlFAR7 destroys the cuticular pore canals and related structures.
The lipidomics comparison analysis between dsNlFAR7‐ and dsGFP‐treated N. lugens demonstrated that there were 25 metabolites involved in cuticular lipid layer synthesis.
Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare clinical syndrome with high mortality rate. The diagnosis of HLH draws on a constellation of clinical and laboratory abnormalities including ...extremely high serum ferritin levels. However, no biomarker has been firmly established as a clinically useful prognostic tool in HLH patients. We aimed to perform a retrospective analysis of two independent cohorts to explore the prognostic value of discharge serum ferritin for newly diagnosed adult HLH patients who recently started treatment. The prognostic value of serum ferritin levels at discharge (will be called as post-treatment ferritin level) was initially evaluated in a "test cohort" of 161 previously untreated consecutive adult HLH patients. It was then validated in a second cohort of 68 consecutive previously untreated patients (validation cohort).
Multivariate analysis revealed that significantly high post-treatment serum ferritin levels (>1050 μg/L) were associated with a higher risk of death and poor overall survival in the test cohort (hazard ratio (HR): 3.176, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.468-6.869, P = 0.003), and the validation cohort (HR: 13.412, 95%CI 1.716-104.816, P = 0.013). At 6-month follow-up period in the test cohort, patients with a > 81% decrease in the serum ferritin level had a significantly higher probability of survival when compared with the patients with ≥14% increase in the serum ferritin level (94% vs. 31%, P < 0.001). Similar findings were observed on the analysis of the decrease in the serum ferritin level in the validation cohort.
These results suggest that the serum ferritin level can be used as an independent prognostic marker in the adult HLH patients.
Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is an obligate satellite of hepatitis B virus (HBV). HIV/HDV co‐infection is associated with a high rate of hepatic decompensation events and death. We aimed to ...characterize the epidemiology of HDV infection in HIV/HBV co‐infected individuals. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CINAHL and Scopus for studies published from 1 Jan 2002 to 7 May 2018 measuring prevalence of HDV among the HIV population. Pooled seroprevalence was calculated with the DerSimonian–Laird random‐effects model. Our search returned 4624 records, 38 of which met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. These studies included data for 63 cohorts from 18 countries and regions. The overall HDV seroprevalence of HIV‐infected individuals was 1.03% (95% CI 0.43–1.85) in 2002–2018 globally. Moreover, the estimated pooled HDV seroprevalence among the general population was 1.07% (95% CI 0.65–1.59) in 2002–2018, which was not significantly different from the HDV seroprevalence of individuals living with HIV (p = 0.951). The overall HDV seroprevalence of the HBsAg positive population was 12.15% (95% CI 10.22–14.20), p = 0.434 when compared with the corresponding data of HIV/HBV co‐infected individuals. This meta‐analysis suggested that there was no difference between the HDV seroprevalence in HIV‐infected individuals and the general population.
Hundreds of insect genome sequences have been reported; however, most sequencing projects have not determined the sex chromosomes, and no Y chromosomes from a heterometabolous insect have been ...identified and characterized to date. The brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens Stål) is the most economically damaging pest to rice and is also an ideal research subject for paddy ecology and functional genomics. We previously assembled a draft female genome mainly using second‐generation sequencing technologies, with a contig N50 of only 24 kb, due to the large size and excessive repetitive regions in the N. lugens genome. Here, we utilize third‐generation sequencing technologies and Hi‐C data to generate a high‐quality male N. lugens assembly with a contig N50 of 1.01 Mb, a scaffold N50 of 69.96 Mb and more than 95.6% of the assembled bases located on 16 chromosomes. Fourteen autosomes and two sex chromosomes (X + Y) were identified, filling in the gap related to the Y chromosome in heterometabolous insects. A total of 18,021 protein‐coding genes and 6423 long‐noncoding RNAs were predicted with full‐length cDNA sequencing data. All 315 of the Y chromosome genes (Y‐genes) were derived from autosomal and X‐chromosome duplications. Large‐scale RNA interference (RNAi) experiments were conducted against the N. lugens Y‐genes, demonstrating that 7 Y‐genes were essential for normal BPH development or male organ development, suggesting the importance of Y‐genes. The first identified Y chromosome in heterometabolous insects will help gain more insight into sex determination, fertility and chromosome evolution.
Soil-borne fungal pathogens pose a major threat to global agricultural production and food security. Pathogen-suppressive bacteria and plant beneficial protists are important components of soil ...microbiomes and essential to plant health and performance, but it remains largely unknown regarding how agricultural management practices influence the relative importance of protists and bacteria in plant disease suppression. Here, we characterized soil microbiomes (including fungi, protists, and bacteria) in bulk and sorghum rhizosphere soils with various long-term inorganic and organic fertilization regimes, and linked the changes in fungal plant pathogens with the protistan and bacterial communities. We found that the relative abundances of fungal pathogens were significantly decreased by organic fertilization regimes, and there was a significant difference in the community composition of fungal pathogens between inorganic and organic fertilization regimes. Organic fertilization significantly enhanced predatory protists but reduced the proportions of protistan phototrophs. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed more intensive connections between fungal plant pathogens with protists, especially predatory protists, than with bacterial taxa, which was further supported by stronger associations between the community structure of fungal pathogens and predatory protists. We identified more protist consumer taxa than bacterial taxa as predictors of fungal plant pathogens, and structural equation modelling revealed a more important impact of protist consumers than bacteria on fungal pathogens. Altogether, we provide new evidence that the disease inhibitory effects of long-term organic fertilization regimes could be best explained by the potential predation pressure of protists. Our findings advance the mechanistic understanding of the role of predator-prey interactions in controlling fungal diseases, and have implications for novel biocontrol strategies to mitigate the consequences of fungal infections for plant performance.
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•Long-term organic fertilization regimes significantly reduced the relative abundances of fungal pathogens.•Organic fertilization significantly increased the proportions of predatory protists.•Predatory protists were the best predictors of the patterns of fungal plant pathogens.•The disease suppression of organic fertilization was best explained by the predation pressure of protists.•This study advanced our understanding of the crucial roles of trophic regulations in regulating fungal plant pathogens.
Abstract A method for synthesizing pyrimido 1,2‐a indol‐4‐ol heteroarenes via a Cp*Rh(III)‐catalyzed cascade C−H activation/annulation strategy employing N ‐methoxyindoleamides and isoxazolones is ...developed. Also, a framework of 3‐methoxy‐2,3‐dihydro‐ 1,3,5 triazino 1,2‐a indole‐4,10‐dione was successfully synthesized via a Cp*Rh‐catalyzed C−H activation/annulation/oxidation reaction between N‐ (methyloxy)‐1 H ‐indole‐1‐carboxamide and isoxazolones. These reactions demonstrated the suitability of several substrates, compatibility with numerous functional groups, and mild reaction conditions. Preliminary mechanistic investigations have been completed.
Abstract Herein, we describe a reaction conditions‐based switchable Rh(III)‐catalyzed C−H alkylation and alkenylation of 1,2,3‐benzotriazinones with maleimides, where the triazinone serves as a ...directing group rather than its traditional role denitrogenative precursor. This strategy enables the selective synthesis of diverse 3‐arylated succinimides and 3‐arylated maleimides in up to 99% yield and a broad substrate scope (48 examples). Furthermore, for the first time, a tandem C−H alkylation and denitrogenative coupling of 1,2,3‐benzotriazinones has been achieved by slightly modifying the reaction conditions. Additionally, gram‐scale reactions and product derivatizations were conducted to demonstrate the synthetic utility.
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