With the aim of gathering temporal trends on bacterial epidemiology and resistance from multiple laboratories in China, the CHINET surveillance system was organized in 2005. Antimicrobial ...susceptibility testing was carried out according to a unified protocol using the Kirby-Bauer method or automated systems. Results were analyzed according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) 2014 definitions. Between 2005 and 2014, the number of bacterial isolates ranged between 22 774 and 84 572 annually. Rates of extended-spectrum β-lactamase production among Escherichia coli isolates were stable, between 51.7 and 55.8%. Resistance of E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae to amikacin, ciprofloxacin, piperacillin/tazobactam and cefoperazone/sulbactam decreased with time. Carbapenem resistance among K. pneumoniae isolates increased from 2.4 to 13.4%. Resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains against all of antimicrobial agents tested including imipenem and meropenem decreased with time. On the contrary, resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii strains to carbapenems increased from 31 to 66.7%. A marked decrease of methicillin resistance from 69% in 2005 to 44.6% in 2014 was observed for Staphylococcus aureus. Carbapenem resistance rates in K. pneumoniae and A. baumannii in China are high. Our results indicate the importance of bacterial surveillance studies.
ABSTRACT We present preliminary results of the quasar survey in the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) first data release (DR1), which includes the pilot survey and ...the first year of the regular survey. There are 3921 quasars reliably identified, among which 1180 are new quasars discovered in the survey. These quasars are at low to median redshifts, with a highest z of 4.83. We compile emission line measurements around the H , Hβ, Mg ii, and C iv regions for the new quasars. The continuum luminosities are inferred from SDSS photometric data with model fitting, as the spectra in DR1 are non-flux-calibrated. We also compile the virial black hole mass estimates, with flags indicating the selection methods, and broad absorption line quasars. The catalog and spectra for these quasars are also available. Of the 3921 quasars, 28% are independently selected with optical-infrared colors, indicating that the method is quite promising for the completeness of the quasar survey. LAMOST DR1 and the ongoing quasar survey will provide valuable data for studies of quasars.
Aims
This study investigated the role of L‐3‐n‐Butylphthalide (NBP) in cardiac protection.
Methods
The left anterior descending coronary arteries (LAD) of the rats were occluded for 30 min following ...by 2‐h reperfusion to make the ischaemia/reperfusion models. Neonatal cardiomyocytes were cultured and subjected to hypoxia. L‐3‐n‐Butylphthalide was administered intraperitoneally 2 h before the surgery and right after the reperfusion in the in vivo experiments or added to the culture medium in vitro. Haemodynamic parameters were recorded to evaluate the cardiac functions, triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) and Evens blue staining were used to determine the area of risk and infarct area, apoptotic cell numbers were counted with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) staining. Western blotting was used to determine the apoptotic protein levels and immune staining to determine the translocation of Glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) protein.
Results
Our research showed for the first time that L‐3‐n‐Butylphthalide had great effects in improving cardiac hemodynamic function and decreasing cardiac infarct areas and apoptotic cell numbers in the peri‐infarct areas. The apoptotic signals investigation showed that L‐3‐n‐Butylphthalide affected the mitochondrial pathway including Bcl‐2 protein expression, inhibition of caspase 3 activation and cytochrome C releasing. Besides, Glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase protein translocation was inhibited by L‐3‐n‐Butylphthalide treatment, and this effect was mediated by endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS).
Conclusion
L‐3‐n‐Butylphthalide protects cardiomyocytes from ischaemia/reperfusion‐induced apoptosis by antioxidant effect and affecting mitochondrial apoptotic pathway.
The roles of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and circulating monocytes in human cancer are poorly understood. Here, we show that monocyte subpopulation distribution and transcriptomes are ...significantly altered by the presence of endometrial and breast cancer. Furthermore, TAMs from endometrial and breast cancers are transcriptionally distinct from monocytes and their respective tissue-resident macrophages. We identified a breast TAM signature that is highly enriched in aggressive breast cancer subtypes and associated with shorter disease-specific survival. We also identified an auto-regulatory loop between TAMs and cancer cells driven by tumor necrosis factor alpha involving SIGLEC1 and CCL8, which is self-reinforcing through the production of CSF1. Together these data provide direct evidence that monocyte and macrophage transcriptional landscapes are perturbed by cancer, reflecting patient outcomes.
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•Cancer alters circulating monocytic populations and their transcriptomes•Tumor-associated macrophages show tissue-specific programming•Tumor-associated macrophages’ gene signature correlates with poor clinical outcome•Tumor-associated macrophages enhance cancer cells malignancy through CCL8
Cassetta et al. identify a breast cancer tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) transcriptome that is different from those of monocytes and tissue-resident macrophages, and which is associated with shorter disease-specific survival, and they demonstrate crosstalk between tumor cells and TAMs via SIGLEC1, CCL8, and CSF1.
We present Data Releases 4 and 5 of the quasar catalog from the quasar survey by the Large Sky Area Multi-object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), which includes quasars observed between 2015 ...September and 2017 June. There are a total of 19,253 quasars identified by visual inspections of the spectra. Among them, 11,458 were independently discovered by LAMOST, in which 3296 were reported by the SDSS DR12 and DR14 quasar catalog after our survey began, while the remaining 8162 are new discoveries of LAMOST. We provide the emission line measurements for H , Hβ, Mg ii, and/or C iv for 18,100 quasars. Since LAMOST does not have absolute flux calibration information, we obtain the monochromatic continuum luminosities by fitting the SDSS photometric data using the quasar spectra, and then estimate the black hole masses. The catalog and spectra for these quasars are available online. This is the third installment in the series of LAMOST quasar surveys that has released spectra for ∼43,000 quasars to date. There are 24,772 independently discovered quasars, 17,128 of which are newly discovered. In addition to this great supplement to the new quasar discoveries, LAMOST has also provided a large database (overlapped with SDSS) for investigating quasar spectral variability and discovering unusual quasars, including changing-look quasars, with ongoing and upcoming large surveys.
Carboxylesterases (CarEs) play an important role in detoxifying insecticides in insects. Over‐expression and structural modification of CarEs have been implicated in the development of ...organophosphate (OP) insecticide resistance in insects. A previous study identified four nonsynonymous mutations (resulting in four amino acid residue substitutions) in the open reading frame of the carboxylesterase gene of resistant cotton aphids compared to the omethoate susceptible strain, which has possibly influenced the development of resistance to omethoate (a systemic OP insecticide). The current study further characterized the function of these mutations, both alone and in combination, in the hydrolysis of OP insecticides. The metabolism results suggest that the combination of four mutations, mainly existing in the laboratory‐selected OP‐resistant cotton aphid population, increased the OP hydrolase activity (approximately twofold) at the cost of detectable carboxylesterase activity. The functional studies of single or multiple mutations suggest the positive effect of H104R, A128V and T333P on the acquisition of OP hydrolase activity, especially the combination of H104R with A128V or T333P. K484R substitution decreased both the OP hydrolase activity and the CarE activity, indicating that this mutation primarily drives the negative effect on the acquisition of OP hydrolase activity amongst these four mutations in the resistant strain. The modelling and docking results are basically consistent with the metabolic results, which strongly suggest that the structural gene modification is the molecular basis for the OP resistance in this laboratory‐selected cotton aphid strain.
After curative radiotherapy (RT) or chemoradiation (CRT), there is no validated tool to accurately identify patients for adjuvant therapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Post-RT circulating plasma ...Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA can detect minimal residual disease and is associated with recurrence and survival independent of TNM (tumor–lymph node–metastasis) stage. We aimed to develop and validate a risk model for stratification of NPC patients after completion of RT/CRT to observation or adjuvant therapy.
The prospective multicenter 0502 EBV DNA screening cohort (Hong Kong NPC Study Group 0502 trial) enrolled from 2006 to 2015 (n = 745) was used for model development. For internal validation, we pooled independent patient cohorts from prospective clinical studies enrolled from 1997 to 2006 (n = 340). For external validation, we used retrospective cohort of NPC patients treated at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from 2009 to 2012 (n = 837). Eligible patients had histologically confirmed NPC of Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) 7th Edition stage II–IVB who completed curative RT/CRT with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy, had post-RT EBV DNA tested within 120 days after RT and received no adjuvant therapy. The primary end point was overall survival (OS). We used recursive-partitioning analysis (RPA) to classify patients into groups of low, intermediate, and high risk of death.
Combining post-RT EBV DNA level (0, 1–49, 50–499, and ≥500 copies/ml) and TNM stage (II, III, IVAB), RPA model classified patients into low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups with 5-year OS of 89.4%, 78.5% and 37.2%, respectively. The RPA low-risk group had comparable OS to TNM stage II (5-year OS 88.5%) but identified more patients (64.8% versus stage II 28.1%) that could potentially be spared adjuvant therapy toxicity. The RPA model (c-index 0.712) showed better risk discrimination than either the TNM stage (0.604) or post-RT EBV DNA alone (0.675) with improved calibration and consistence. These results were validated in both internal and external cohorts.
Combining post-RT EBV DNA and TNM stage improved risk stratification in NPC.
•Integrating postradiotherapy plasma Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA and tumor–lymph node–metastasis (TNM) stage improves the risk stratification of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.•Postradiotherapy plasma EBV DNA is a better predictor of early death in nasopharyngeal carcinoma than TNM stage.•The low-risk group by recursive partitioning model can spare more patients from unnecessary toxicity of adjuvant therapy.
Abstract
Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) heating and Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) can have synergy due to the acceleration of NBI beam ions by ICRF wave fields at their harmonics. To ...understand the influence of ICRF-NBI synergy on fast ion distribution and plasma performance, dedicated experiments and TRANSP simulations have been carried out on EAST. The simulation results are consistent with the experimental results. They show that the ICRF-NBI synergy not only accelerates the NBI beam ions with energy lower than 80 keV to energy larger than 300 keV, but also generates fusion neutrons with energy larger than 3 MeV. Moreover, ICRF-NBI synergy improves the plasma performance by increasing the poloidal beta, plasma stored energy, core ion temperature, total neutron yield and kinetic pressure. In a typical H-mode plasma with 1.0 MW NBI and 1.5 MW ICRF power, it was observed that ICRF-NBI synergy increases the poloidal beta, plasma stored energy, core ion temperature and neutron yield by ∼35%, 33%, 22% and 80%, respectively. Various parameter scans show that the ICRF-NBI synergetic effects can be enhanced by decreasing the minority ion concentration or the distance between the harmonic resonance and magnetic axis, or by increasing the ICRF heating power or NBI beam energy. Consequently, this leads to a generation of fast ions with higher energy. For instance, the maximum energy of the fast ion tail increases from 300 to 600 keV as n(H) decreases from 5% to 0.1%.
The numbers of psi(3686) events accumulated by the BESIII detector for the data taken during 2009 and 2012 are determined to be (107.0 +/- 0.8)x10(6) and (341.1 +/- 2.1)x10(6), respectively, by ...counting inclusive hadronic events, where the uncertainties are systematic and the statistical uncertainties are negligible. The number of events for the sample taken in 2009 is consistent with that of the previous measurement. The total number of psi(3686) events for the two data taking periods is (448.1 +/- 2.9) x 10(6).
Background. Seven persons in one family living in eastern China developed fever and thrombocytopenia during May 2007, but the initial investigation failed to identify an infectious etiology. In ...December 2009, a novel bunyavirus (designated severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome bunyavirus SFTSV) was identified as the cause of illness in patients with similar clinical manifestations in China. We reexamined this family cluster for SFTSV infection. Methods. We analyzed epidemiological and clinical data for the index patient and 6 secondary patients. We tested stored blood specimens from the 6 secondary patients using real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), viral culture, genetic sequencing, micro-neutralization assay (MNA), and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Results. An 80-year-old woman with fever, leucopenia, and thrombocytopenia died on 27 April 2007. Between 3 and 7 May 2007, another 6 patients from her family were admitted to a local county hospital with fever and other similar symptoms. Serum specimens collected in 2007 from these 6 patients were positive for SFTS viral RNA through RT-PCR and for antibody to SFTSV through MNA and IFA. SFTSV was isolated from 1 preserved serum specimen. The only shared characteristic between secondary patients was personal contact with the index patient; none reported exposure to suspected animals or vectors. Conclusions. Clinical and laboratory evidence confirmed that the patients of fever and thrombocytopenia occurring in a family cluster in eastern China in 2007 were caused by a newly recognized bunyavirus, SFTSV. Epidemiological investigation strongly suggests that infection of secondary patients was transmitted to family members by personal contact.
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