We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence and risk factors of leukopenia and thrombocytopenia among Chinese adults with newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS. One thousand nine hundred and ...forty-eight newly diagnosed HIV-infected patients were enrolled between 2009 and 2010. Serum samples obtained from each individual were collected for complete blood count. Factors associated with the presence of leukopenia and thrombocytopenia were analyzed by multiple logistic regression. The overall prevalence of leukopenia and of thrombocytopenia was 33.2% and 15.6%, respectively. The prevalence of leukopenia was higher among females than among males (39.4% versus 31.2%). The prevalence of leukopenia increased with decreasing CD4 count (8.2%, 26.5%, 33.4%, and 41.5% among patients with CD4 count of ≥ 350, 200-349, 50-199, and < 50 cells/mm3 respectively). The prevalence of thrombocytopenia also showed an increasing trend with decreasing CD4 count (5.8%, 12.2%, 17.8%, and 17.5% among patients with CD4 count of ≥ 350, 200-349, 50-199, and < 50 cells/mm3, respectively). Logistic analysis showed that female sex, lower CD4 count, and Han ethnicity were significantly associated with an increased risk of leukopenia, and that lower CD4 count, and HIV transmission by blood were significantly associated with an increased risk of thrombocytopenia. The study reflects that leukopenia and thrombocytopenia are common among Chinese adults with newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS; and lower CD4 count is associated with an increased risk of both leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. We propose that a routine assessment of these parameters is necessary for timely and adequate clinical management.
To develop an expert consensus opinion of the criteria for selection of peer educator for HIV/AIDS care program, twenty experts were invited to complete a two-round Delphi consultation. Response ...rates of the panelists for the first and second rounds were both 100%, and the authority coefficient of the experts was 0.75. Experts achieved consensus on a total of nine items (75%) on completion of the study. The Precedence Chart Method was used to calculate the weight of each indicator, and then a priority list was generated accordingly. This study provides the initial selection criteria for HIV/AIDS peer educators in Shanghai as well as in China.
Avian influenza viruses infect a great number of global populations every year and can lead to severe epidemics with high morbidity and mortality. Facile, rapid and sensitive detection of viruses is ...very crucial to control the viral spread at its early stage. In this work, we developed a novel magnetic immunosensor based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy to detect intact but inactivated influenza virus H3N2 (A/Shanghai/4084T/2012) by constructing a sandwich complex consisting of SERS tags, target influenza viruses and highly SERS-active magnetic supporting substrates. The procedure of sample pretreatment could be significantly simplified since the magnetic supporting substrates allowed the enrichment and separation of viruses from a complex matrix. With a portable Raman spectrometer, the immunosensor could detect H3N2 down to 102TCID50/mL (TCID50 refers to tissue culture infection dose at 50% end point), with a good linear relationship from 102 to 5×103 TCID50/mL. Considering its time efficiency, portability and sensitivity, the proposed SERS-based magnetic immunoassay is very promising for a point-of-care (POC) test in clinical and diagnostic praxis.
•SERS-based magnetic immunoassay was developed for avian Influenza virus detection.•Sandwich method aided by a magnet improved virus enrichment and detection sensitivity.•Portable Raman system based protocol could be expected for point-of-care test.
To understand the mechanization of the efficient water utilization on summer maize, field experiments involving straw mulching with 0, 0.6 kg/m(2)(N and M, respectively) and plant density with 10.0, ...7.5, 5.5 (1, 2 and 3, respectively)plants per m(2) were conducted. The effect of straw mul-ching and plant density on soil moisture content under different layer, grain yield and yield components was investigated, to discuss the potential of grain yield and WUE improvement by the optimized combination of straw mulching and plant density. The results show that the yield and WUE of M2 treatment are 1255.44 g/m(2) and 3.93 kg/m(3), respectively, which are higher than other treatments. Evapotranspiration has no significant difference among different straw mulching treatments in the whole summer maize growing season. Straw mulching improves the 0-30 cm soil moisture content in medium growing stage under low density treatment, ear number, 1000-kernel weight, grain, WUE by 8.67%, 3.73%, 8.04%, 16.88%, 21.94%, respectivel
Direct visual enumeration of viruses under dark-field microscope (DFM) using plasmon resonance probes (PRPs) is fast and convenient; however, it is greatly limited in the assay of real samples ...because of its inability to accurately identify false positives owing to non-specific adsorption. In this study, we propose an artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted DFM enumeration strategy for the accurate assay of Enterovirus A71 (an ultra-small human virus) using two PRPs; a 40 nm silver nanoparticle probe (SNP) that appears bright blue under DFM, and a 120 nm gold nanorod probe (GNP) that appears red under DFM. The capture chip was prepared by immobilizing the SNPs with antibodies on the glass to capture the target virus and to form dichromatic sandwich structures with the GNPs, followed by imaging under a dark field (DF). Subsequently, the DF images of the capture chip were subjected to a two-step screening: first, using image processing, and thereafter using the AI algorithm screening to eliminate false positive results and background noise. The results revealed that the data from the AI-assisted dual PRPs assay were highly consistent with those of quantitative PCR (qPCR), and that the sensitivity with a minimum detectable concentration of 3 copies/μL was 5 times higher than that of qPCR. The entire analysis was completed within 45 min. Therefore, our AI-assisted virus enumeration strategy with two DF PRPs holds great potential for ultra-sensitive and accurate quantification of viruses in real samples.
•The dual-screening system based on deep learning was employed to accurately enumerate ultra-small virus using two dark-field plasmon resonance probes.•The image screen system was characterized by HSV (hue, saturation and value).•Our AI-assisted enumeration strategy for virus analysis has a limit of detection (LOD) of 3 copies/μL, which is about 5 times more sensitive than qPCR.
A novel temperate phage vB_KpnP_ZX1 was isolated from hospital sewage samples using the clinically derived K57-type Klebsiella pneumoniae as a host. Phage vB_KpnP_ZX1, encoding three lysogen genes, ...the repressor, anti-repressor, and integrase, is the fourth phage of the genus Uetakevirus, family Podoviridae, ever discovered. Phage vB_KpnP_ZX1 did not show ideal bactericidal effect on K. pneumoniae 111-2, but TEM showed that the depolymerase Dep_ZX1 encoded on the short tail fiber protein has efficient capsule degradation activity. In vitro antibacterial results show that purified recombinant Dep_ZX1 can significantly prevent the formation of biofilm, degrade the formed biofilm, and improve the sensitivity of the bacteria in the biofilm to the antibiotics kanamycin, gentamicin, and streptomycin. Furthermore, the results of animal experiments show that 50 µg Dep_ZX1 can protect all K. pneumoniae 111-2-infected mice from death, whereas the control mice infected with the same dose of K. pneumoniae 111-2 all died. The degradation activity of Dep_ZX1 on capsular polysaccharide makes the bacteria weaken their resistance to immune cells, such as complement-mediated serum killing and phagocytosis, which are the key factors for its therapeutic action. In conclusion, Dep_ZX1 is a promising anti-virulence agent for the K57-type K. pneumoniae infection or biofilm diseases.
The quintessence-like potential of vacuum energy can meet the requirements from both quantum gravity and the accelerating expansion of the universe. The anti-de Sitter (AdS) vacuum in string theory ...must be lifted to the meta-stable dS vacuum with a positive vacuum energy density to explain the accelerating expansion of the universe. Based on possible large-scale Lorentz violation, we define an effective cosmological constant that depends not only on the bare cosmological constant but also on the Lorentz violation effect. We find that the evolution of the effective cosmological constant exhibits the behavior of the quintessence potential when the bare cosmological constant originates from the string landscape, in contrast to the existence of a local minimum during evolution when the bare cosmological constant is supplied by the swampland. The critical value of the bare cosmological constant is approximately zero for the behavior transition. The frozen large-scale Lorentz violation can uplift the AdS vacua to an effective quintessence-like one in this sense.
The study of the interaction between temperate phages and bacteria is vital to understand their role in the development of human diseases. In this study, a novel temperate Escherichia coli phage, ...vB_EcoP_ZX5, with a genome size of 39,565 bp, was isolated from human fecal samples. It has a short tail and belongs to the genus Uetakevirus and the family Podoviridae. Phage vB_EcoP_ZX5 encodes three lysogeny-related proteins (ORF12, ORF21, and ORF4) and can be integrated into the 3′-end of guaA of its host E. coli YO1 for stable transmission to offspring bacteria. Phage vB_EcoP_ZX5 in lysogenized E. coli YO1+ was induced spontaneously, with a free phage titer of 10sup.7 PFU/mL. The integration of vB_EcoP_ZX5 had no significant effect on growth, biofilm, environmental stress response, antibiotic sensitivity, adherence to HeLa cells, and virulence of E. coli YO1. The ORF4 anti-repressor, ORF12 integrase, and ORF21 repressors that affect the lytic–lysogenic cycle of vB_EcoP_ZX5 were verified by protein overexpression. We could tell from changes of the number of total phages and the transcription level of phage genes that repressor protein is the key determinant of lytic-to-lysogenic conversion, and anti-repressor protein promotes the conversion from lysogenic cycle to lytic cycle.
The extracellular portion (amino acids 95-281 or 114-281) of the human tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (sTRAIL) was genetically linked to the C terminus of the ...fluoresce-enhanced green fluorescent protein variant (EGFP) to generate two versions of EGFP-sTRAIL fusion proteins, designated EGFP-sTR95 and EGFP-sTR114, respectively. The two versions of EGFP-sTRAIL fusion proteins both induce extensive apoptosis in lymphoid as well as nonlymphoid tumor cell lines. In addition, the two versions of fusion proteins retain similar fluorescence spectra to those of EGFP and have shown the specific binding to TRAIL receptor-positive cells; thus, the stained cells could be analyzed with flow cytometry. Hence, the two versions of fusion proteins represent a readily obtainable source of biologically active sTRAIL that may prove useful in exploit fully the characteristics of both the soluble TRAIL and its receptor system.
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