Background
This study analyzed the motor development and suspected developmental coordination disorder of very and moderately preterm (< 34
+0
gestational age), late preterm (34
+0
–36
+6
gestational ...week), and early-term (37
+0
–38
+6
gestational week) children compared to their full-term peers with a national population-based sample in China.
Methods
A total of 1673 children (799 girls, 874 boys) aged 3–10 years old were individually assessed with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-second edition (MABC-2). The association between gestational age and motor performance of children was analyzed using a multilevel regression model.
Results
The global motor performance
β
= – 5.111, 95% confidence interval (CI) = – 9.200 to – 1.022;
P
= 0.015 and balance (
β
= – 5.182, 95% CI = – 5.055 to – 1.158;
P
= 0.003) for very and moderately preterm children aged 3–6 years old were significantly lower than their full-term peers when adjusting for confounders. Late preterm and early-term children showed no difference. Moreover, very and moderately preterm children aged 3–6 years had a higher risk of suspected developmental coordination disorder (DCD) (≤ 5 percentile of MABC-2 score) when adjusting for potential confounders odds ratio (OR) = 2.931, 95% CI = 1.067–8.054;
P
= 0.038. Late preterm and early-term children showed no difference in motor performance from their full-term peers (each
P
> 0.05).
Conclusions
Our findings have important implications for understanding motor impairment in children born at different gestational ages. Very and moderately preterm preschoolers have an increased risk of DCD, and long-term follow-up should be provided for early detection and intervention.
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a disease caused by infection with the SFTS virus (SFTSV). SFTS has become a crucial public health concern because of the heavy burden, lack of ...vaccines, effective therapies, and high-fatality rate. Evidence suggests that SFTSV circulates between ticks and animals in nature and is transmitted to humans by tick bites. In particular, ticks have been implicated as vectors of SFTSV, where domestic or wild animals may play as the amplifying hosts. Many studies have identified antigens and antibodies against SFTSV in various animals such as sheep, goats, cattle, and rodents. Besides, person-to-person transmission through contact with blood or mucous of an infected person has also been reported. In this study, we reviewed the literature and summarized the vectors and hosts associated with SFTS and the possible risk factors.
Background:
Aedes albopictus
is an indigenous primary vector of dengue and Zika viruses in China.
Wolbachia
is a gram-negative and common intracellular bacteria, which is maternally inherited ...endosymbionts and could expand their propagation in host populations by means of various manipulations. Compared with research on the dispersion of
Ae. albopictus
at the macrospatial level (mainly at the country or continent level), little is known about its variation and
Wolbachia
infection at the microspatial level, which is essential for its management. Meanwhile, no local cases of dengue fever have been recorded in the history of Nanjing, which implies that few adulticides have been applied in the city. Thus, the present study examines how the
Ae. albopictus
population varies and the
Wolbachia
infection status of each population among microspatial regions of Nanjing City.
Methods:
The genetic structure of 17
Aedes albopictus
populations collected from urban, urban fringe, and rural regions of Nanjing City was investigated based on 9 microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial
coxI
gene. The
Wolbachia
infection status of each population was also assessed with
Wolbachia
A- and
Wolbachia
B-specific primers.
Results:
Nine out of 58 tested pairs of microsatellite markers were highly polymorphic, with a mean PIC value of 0.560, and these markers were therefore chosen for microsatellite genotyping analysis. The Na value of each
Ae. albopictus
population was very high, and the urban area populations (7.353 ± 4.975) showed a lower mean value than the urban fringe region populations (7.866 ± 5.010). A total of 19
coxI
haplotypes were observed among 329
Ae. albopictus
individuals via haplotype genotyping, with the highest diversity observed among the urban fringe
Ae. albopictus
populations (Hd = 0.456) and the lowest among the urban populations (Hd = 0.277). Each
Ae. albopictus
population showed significant departure from HWE, and significant population expansion was observed in only three populations from the urban (ZSL), urban fringe (HAJY), and rural areas (HSZY) (
p
< 0.05). Combined with DAPC analysis, all the
Ae. albopictus
populations were adequately allocated to two clades with significant genetic differences according to population structure analysis, and the best K value was equal to two. AMOVA results showed that most (96.18%) of the genetic variation detected in
Ae. albopictus
occurred within individuals (F
IT
= 0.22238,
p
< 0.0001), while no significant positive correlation was observed via isolation by distance (IBD) analysis (
R
2
= 0.03262,
p
= 0.584). The TCS network of all haplotypes showed that haplotype 1 (H1) and haplotype 4 (H4) were the most frequent haplotypes among all populations, and the haplotype frequency significantly increased from urban regions (36.84%) to rural regions (68.42%). Frequent migration was observed among
Ae. albopictus
populations from rural to urban regions via the urban fringe region, with four direct migration routes between rural and urban regions. Furthermore,
Wolbachia
genotyping results showed that most of the individuals of each population were coinfected with
Wolbachia
A and
Wolbachia
B. The independent infection rate of
Wolbachia
A was slightly higher than that of
Wolbachia
B, and no significant differences were observed among different regions.
Conclusion:
In the microspatial environment of Nanjing City, the urban fringe region is an important region for the dispersion of
Ae. albopictus
populations between rural and urban areas, and
Wolbachia
A and
Wolbachia
B coinfection is the most common
Wolbachia
infection status in all
Ae. albopictus
populations among different regions.
Aim: This study investigated whether the parturition mode (vaginal or cesarean C- section) affects breast milk concentrations of four essential trace elements (iron, copper, zinc, and manganese).
...Methods: Women giving birth at seven hospitals in seven different regions of China were enrolled in the study. Each participant provided breast milk, collected on postpartum day 3-5, for determination of iron, copper, zinc, and manganese concentrations. Breast milk concentrations of the subject trace elements were compared between women giving birth vaginally or via C-section.
Results: Of the 1243 women enrolled in the study, 617 (49.6%) gave birth via the vaginal route and 626 (50.4%) delivered via C-section. The mean milk concentrations of iron, copper, zinc, and manganese in the milk of women delivering via the vaginal route were higher than those in the milk of women delivering via C-section; only the copper concentration differences were statistically significant, after adjusting for confounding factors (p = .023).
Conclusion: Delivery mode impacts breast milk concentrations of essential trace elements, with vaginal delivery being associated with higher essential trace element concentrations than C-sections.
Background
Asthma has been a global problem, especially in children. We aim to evaluate the contemporary prevalence and influencing factors of asthma among children aged 3–7 years in Shanghai, China.
...Methods
A random sample of preschool children was included in this study. The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire was adopted to assess the childhood asthma. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to evaluate the associations between independent variables and childhood asthma.
Results
Of 6389 preschool children who were invited to take part in this study, 6163 (response rate: 96.5%) completed the questionnaire and were included in the analysis. The overall prevalence of asthma was 14.6% which increased more than six folds from 2.1% in 1990. Being male, younger age, preterm delivery, being born in spring or autumn, being delivered by elective cesarean section without indication, miscarriage, high socioeconomic status, having allergy history, and exposure to passive smoking, latex paint, and dust were potential risk factors for childhood asthma. Spending more time outdoors (> 30 min/day), having indoor plants, and cleaning rooms more frequently were potential protective factors.
Conclusions
The prevalence of childhood asthma in Shanghai has increased dramatically during the past three decades. The findings about risk and protective factors of childhood asthma could be used to develop appropriate strategies to prevent and control childhood asthma in Shanghai and in other similar metropolitan cities.
•The odorant receptors (ORs) play a critical role for mosquitoes in the identification of blood-feeding hosts and other physiological processes.•In this study, the expression of CquiOR114/117 in the ...different developmental stages of Cx. quinquefasciatus was detected, and RNAi technology was used to interfere with the expression of CquiOR114/117 in females to observe the blood-feeding behavior change.•Through the analysis of the gene expression and the behavior, the CquiOR114/117 is speculated to have an effect on the blood-feeding behavior of Cx. quinquefasciatus.
The odorant receptors (ORs) play a critical role for mosquitoes in the identification of blood-feeding hosts and other physiological processes. The OR8 subfamily in mosquitoes has been shown to be strongly involved in the detection the mammalian host associated odor, 1-octen-3-ol. CquiOR114/117 has been shown to be an orthologous OR8 in Culex quinquefasciatus Say. In this study, the expression of CquiOR114/117 in the different developmental stages of Cx. quinquefasciatus was detected by the amplification of CquiOR114/117 with real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RNA interference (RNAi) technology was used to interfere with the expression of CquiOR114/117 in females to observe the blood-feeding behavior change. The results showed that the expression level of CquiOR114/117 in the egg-to-pupa stage was significantly lower than that in the adult stage and that the expression level of the female mosquitoes peaked on the third day after emergence. The expression of CquiOR114/117 was significantly decreased in the 2–6 days after the injection of dsRNA compared with the control groups. The analysis of the blood-feeding behavior showed a significant positive correlation between CquiOR114/117 expression and the engorgement rate of the mosquitoes. CquiOR114/117 is speculated to have an effect on the blood-feeding behavior of Cx. quinquefasciatus.
A series of berberine derivatives were synthesized by introducing substituted benzyl groups at C-9. All these synthesized compounds (4a–4m) were screened for their in vitro antibacterial activity ...against four Gram-positive bacteria and four Gram-negative bacteria and evaluated for their antifungal activity against three pathogenic fungal strains. All these compounds displayed good antibacterial and antifungal activities, compared to reference drugs including Ciprofloxacin and Fluconazole; Compounds 4f, 4g, and 4l showed the highest antibacterial and antifungal activities. Moreover, all the synthesized compounds were docked into topoisomerase II-DNA complex, which is a crucial drug target for the treatment of microbial infections. Docking results showed that H-bond, π-π stacked, π-cationic, and π-anionic interactions were responsible for the strong binding of the compounds with the target protein-DNA complex.
In the present study, the length of 360, 1848 and 367 bp sequences of promoters from three subtypes of PI3K family (PI3KCa, PI3KC2b and PI3KC3) of yellow catfish
were cloned and characterized. ...Bioinformatics analysis revealed that
,
and
had different structures in their core promoter regions. The promoter regions of
and
had CpG islands but no CAAT and TATA box. In contrast, the promoter of
had the canonical TATA and CAAT box but no CpG island. The binding sites of several transcription factors, such as HNF1, STAT and NF-κB, were predicted on
promoter. The binding sites of transcription factors, such as FOXO1, PPAR-RXR, STAT, IK1, HNF6 and HNF3, were predicted on
promoter and the binding sites of FOXO1 and STAT transcription factors were predicted on
promoter. Deletion analysis indicated that these transcriptional factors were the potential regulators to mediate the activities of their promoters. Subsequent mutation analysis and electrophoretic mobility-shift assay (EMSA) demonstrated that HNF1 and IK1 directly bound with
and
promoters and negatively regulated the activities of
and
promoters, respectively. Conversely, FOXO1 directly bound with the
and
promoters and positively regulated their promoter activities. In addition, AS1842856 (AS, a potential FOXO1 inhibitor) incubation significantly reduced the relative luciferase activities of several plasmids of
and
but did not significantly influence the relative luciferase activities of the
plasmids. Moreover, by using primary hepatocytes from yellow catfish, AS incubation significantly down-regulated the mRNA levels of
,
and
and reduced triacylglyceride (TG) accumulation and insulin-induced TG accumulation, as well as the activities and the mRNA levels of several genes involved in lipid metabolism. Thus, the present study offers new insights into the mechanisms for transcriptional regulation of PI3Ks and for PI3Ks-mediated regulation of lipid metabolism by insulin in fish.
Oleanolic acid (OA), a natural triterpenoid, which has the development prospects in anti-tumor therapy is a widely used hepatoprotective drug in China. It has been reported that OA can cause liver ...toxicity after higher doses or longer-term use. Therefore, the study aims to explore the possible hepatotoxicity mechanism based on liver metabolic profiles. Liver metabolic profiles were obtained from untargeted ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC)-Q Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometry (MS) technique. It was found that altered bile acid, amino acid, and energy metabolism might be at least partly responsible for OA-induced hepatotoxicity. Bile acid metabolism, as the most important pathway, was verified by using UHPLC-TSQ-MS, indicating that conjugated bile acids were the main contributors to OA-induced liver toxicity. Our findings confirmed that increased bile acids were the key element of OA hepatotoxicity, which may open new insights for OA hepatotoxicity in-depth investigations, as well as provide a reference basis for more hepatotoxic drug mechanism research.
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