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Using the data of the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this paper empirically tests the impact of the "Big Five" personality characteristics on household charitable donation behavior. The benchmark regression results show that after controlling the individual characteristics and family characteristics of the household heads, the conscientiousness and openness of the household heads have a significant positive impact on the social donation behavior of the family. On this basis, this paper takes the openness personality as an example, selects the identification strategy of processing effect, and tests the robustness of the causal effect of personality on household donation behavior. The openness personality has a significant positive impact on household external donation behavior. In the further study, it is found that with the improvement of the level of household charitable donation, the positive effect of the household head 's openness personality on household charitable donation behavior is gradually weakening; The influence of openness personality on household charitable donation has the nonlinear characteristics of "marginal effect" increasing and obvious life cycle characteristics.

Plasmids are important genetic elements that facilitate horizonal gene transfer between bacteria and contribute to the spread of virulence and antimicrobial resistance. Most bacterial genome sequences in the public archives exist in draft form with many contigs, making it difficult to determine if a contig is of chromosomal or plasmid origin. Using a training set of contigs comprising 10,584 chromosomes and 10,654 plasmids from the PATRIC database, we evaluated several machine learning models including random forest, logistic regression, XGBoost, and a neural network for their ability to classify chromosomal and plasmid sequences using nucleotide k-mers as features. Based on the methods tested, a neural network model that used nucleotide 6-mers as features that was trained on randomly selected chromosomal and plasmid subsequences 5kb in length achieved the best performance, outperforming existing out-of-the-box methods, with an average accuracy of 89.38% ± 2.16% over a 10-fold cross validation. The model accuracy can be improved to 92.08% by using a voting strategy when classifying holdout sequences. In both plasmids and chromosomes, subsequences encoding functions involved in horizontal gene transfer-including hypothetical proteins, transporters, phage, mobile elements, and CRISPR elements-were most likely to be misclassified by the model. This study provides a straightforward approach for identifying plasmid-encoding sequences in short read assemblies without the need for sequence alignment-based tools.

The predictors for fatal adenovirus (AdV) pneumonia among immunocompetent adults are unclear. Laboratory-confirmed, hospitalized AdV pneumonia adults were prospectively enrolled in Beijing Chao-Yang hospital from March to June 2013. Clinical data and serial whole blood and respiratory tract secretions from such patients were collected. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to quantify the viral load. A total of 14 AdV pneumonia cases were consecutively enrolled, and four of them were fatal. Ten cases were caused by AdV-55, three by AdV-7 and one by AdV-3. There were no differences in age, gender or underlying diseases between the patients in the fatal cases and surviving cases. At admission (on day 5-7 after illness onset), the patients in fatal cases presented higher initial viral loads in respiratory tract secretions (8.578 ± 2.115 vs 6.263 ± 1.225 Log10 copies/ml, p = 0.023). All patients in fatal cases presented with viremia on day 12-14 (100% vs 66.7%, p = 0.017). A higher initial viral load in the respiratory tract and sustained viremia (more than 2 weeks) may be predictors for fatal clinical outcomes.

IntroductionAs bioaerosol research attracts increasing attention, there is a need for additional efforts that focus on method development to deal with different environmental samples. Bioaerosol environmental samples typically have very low biomass concentrations in the air, which often leaves researchers with limited options in choosing the downstream analysis steps, especially when culture-independent methods are intended.ObjectivesThis study investigates the impacts of three important factors that can influence the performance of culture-independent DNA-based analysis in dealing with bioaerosol environmental samples engaged in this study. The factors are: 1) enhanced high temperature sonication during DNA extraction; 2) effect of sampling duration on DNA recoverability; and 3) an alternative method for concentrating composite samples. In this study, DNA extracted from samples was analysed using the Qubit fluorometer (for direct total DNA measurement) and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).Results and findingsThe findings suggest that additional lysis from high temperature sonication is crucial: DNA yields from both high and low biomass samples increased up to 600% when the protocol included 30-min sonication at 65°C. Long air sampling duration on a filter media was shown to have a negative impact on DNA recoverability with up to 98% of DNA lost over a 20-h sampling period. Pooling DNA from separate samples during extraction was proven to be feasible with margins of error below 30%.

The rapid, sensitive and low-cost detection of macromolecular biomarkers is critical in clinical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, research, etc. Conventional assay methods usually require bulky, expensive and designated instruments and relative long assay time. For hospitals and laboratories that lack immediate access to analytical instruments, fast and low-cost assay methods for the detection of macromolecular biomarkers are urgently needed. In this work, we developed a versatile microparticle (MP)-based immunoaggregation method for the detection and quantification of macromolecular biomarkers. Antibodies (Abs) were firstly conjugated to MP through streptavidin-biotin interaction; the addition of macromolecular biomarkers caused the aggregation of Ab-MPs, which were subsequently detected by an optical microscope or optical particle sizer. The invisible nanometer-scale macromolecular biomarkers caused detectable change of micrometer-scale particle size distributions. Goat anti-rabbit immunoglobulin and human ferritin were used as model biomarkers to demonstrate MP-based immunoaggregation assay in PBS and 10% FBS to mimic real biomarker assay in the complex medium. It was found that both the number ratio and the volume ratio of Ab-MP aggregates caused by biomarker to all particles were directly correlated to the biomarker concentration. In addition, we found that the detection range could be tuned by adjusting the Ab-MP concentration. We envision that this novel MP-based immunoaggregation assay can be combined with multiple detection methods to detect and quantify macromolecular biomarkers at the nanogram per milliliter level.

We examined if transplantation of combined haploidentical hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) affected graft failure and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA). Patients with SAA-I (N = 17) received haploidentical HSCT plus MSC infusion. Stem cell grafts used a combination of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)-primed bone marrow and G-CSF-mobilized peripheral blood stem cells of haploidentical donors and the culture-expanded third-party donor-derived umbilical cord MSCs (UC-MSCs), respectively. Reduced intensity conditioning consisted of fludarabine (30 mg/m2·d)+cyclosphamide (500 mg/m2·d)+anti-human thymocyte IgG. Transplant recipients also received cyclosporin A, mycophenolatemofetil, and CD25 monoclonal antibody. A total of 16 patients achieved hematopoietic reconstitution. The median mononuclear cell and CD34 count was 9.3×10(8)/kg and 4.5×10(6)/kg. Median time to ANC was >0.5×10(9)/L and PLT count >20×10(9)/L were 12 and 14 days, respectively. Grade III-IV acute GVHD was seen in 23.5% of the cases, while moderate and severe chronic GVHD were seen in 14.2% of the cases. The 3-month and 6-month survival rates for all patients were 88.2% and 76.5%, respectively; mean survival time was 56.5 months. Combined transplantation of haploidentical HSCs and MSCs on SAA without an HLA-identical sibling donor was safe, effectively reduced the incidence of severe GVHD, and improved patient survival.

The biosynthesis of the redox shuttle, phenazines, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an ubiquitous microorganism in wastewater microflora, is regulated by the 2-heptyl-3,4-dihydroxyquinoline (PQS) quorum-sensing system. However, PQS inhibits anaerobic growth of P. aeruginosa. We constructed a P. aeruginosa strain that produces higher concentrations of phenazines under anaerobic conditions by over-expressing the PqsE effector in a PQS negative ΔpqsC mutant. The engineered strain exhibited an improved electrical performance in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and potentiostat-controlled electrochemical cells with an approximate five-fold increase of maximum current density relative to the parent strain. Electrochemical analysis showed that the current increase correlates with an over-synthesis of phenazines. These results therefore demonstrate that targeting microbial cell-to-cell communication by genetic engineering is a suitable technique to improve power output of bioelectrochemical systems.

In this paper, four amphiphilic cholesterol-peptide conjugates (Ch-R5H5, Ch-R3H3, Ch-R5 and Ch-R5) were designed and synthesized, and their properties in gene delivery were evaluated in vitro with an aim of developing more efficient gene delivery carriers. These amphiphilic cholesterol-peptide conjugates are composed of hydrophobic cholesterol and positively charged peptides. They were able to self-assemble into micelles at low concentrations and their critical micelle concentrations in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.4) are ≤85 µg/mL. Amphiphilic cholesterol-peptide conjugates condensed DNA more efficiently than a hydrophilic cationic oligoarginine (R10) peptide with no hydrophobic segment. Their transfection efficiencies were at least two orders of magnitude greater than that of R10 peptide in HEK-293 cells. Moreover, the introduction of histidine residues in cholesterol-peptide conjugates led to higher gene expression efficiency compared with cholesterol-peptides without histidine (Ch-R5 and Ch-R3), and the luciferase expression level was comparable or even higher than that induced by PEI at its optimal N/P ratio. In particular, Ch-R5H5 condensed DNA into smaller nanoparticles than Ch-R3H3 at higher N/P ratios, and the minimum size of Ch-R5H5/DNA complexes was 180 nm with zeta potential of 23 mV, achieved at the N/P ratio of 30. This liposome-like vesicle may be a promising gene delivery carrier for intravenous therapy.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is an important pathogen in both children and the elderly, but previous studies in China have provided limited information about invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). A total of 240 IPD S. pneumoniae strains (from 105 children and 135 adults) were collected from 12 cities in China in 2005-2011. Their phenotypes and genetic characteristics were analyzed. Streptococcus pneumoniae remained highly resistant to macrolides, tetracycline, and cotrimoxazole each year. Serotypes were assigned to the 240 isolates, and 19A (22.1%), 19F (21.7%), 14 (7.5%), 3 (7.1%), and 23F (5.4%) were the most prevalent, accounting for 63.8% of all strains. Serogroup 19 strains were significantly more common among children than among adults (58.7% vs 32.4%, respectively; P < 0.001). Serotypes 19F and 19A demonstrated higher resistance to β-lactams and cephalosporins than the other serotypes. The coverage of PCV13 was superior to that calculated for PCV7 and PCV10 (77.9% vs 40.8% and 47.1%, respectively), and coverage was higher in children than in adults (85.6% vs 72.1%, respectively; P = 0.012). A multilocus sequence typing analysis revealed great diversity, with nine clonal complexes and 83 singletons among all the strains. Specifically, CC271 was more common in children, whereas singletons were more prevalent in adults. Among the serogroup 19 strains, 84.7% were ST271, ST320, or ST236, belonging to CC271. The homogeneous genetic background of 19F and 19A, together with the high resistance of these strains, suggests that clonal spread is responsible for the high prevalence of serogroup 19 in IPD. This is the first large study to investigate IPD strains in both children and adults in China.

Clinical relevance of multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat (VNTR) analysis (MLVA) in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) by Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) is unknown. A multi-center, prospective study was conducted from November 2010 to April 2012. Nine hundred and fifty-four CAP patients were consecutively enrolled. M. pneumoniae clinical isolates were obtained from throat swabs. MLVA typing was applied to all isolates. Comparison of pneumonia severity index (PSI) and clinical features among patients infected with different MLVA types of M. pneumoniae were conducted. One hundred and thirty-six patients were positive with M. pneumoniae culture. The clinical isolates were clustered into 18 MLVA types. One hundred and fourteen (88.3%) isolates were resistant to macrolide, covering major MLVA types. The macrolide non-resistant rate of M. pneumoniae isolates with Mpn13-14-15-16 profile of 3-5-6-2 was significantly higher than that of other types (p ≤ 0.001). Patients infected with types U (5-4-5-7-2) and J (3-4-5-7-2) had significantly higher PSI scores (p

Adult community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (CA-MSSA) skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) in China is not well described. A prospective cohort of adults with SSTI was established between January 2009 and August 2010 at 4 hospitals in Beijing. Susceptibility testing and molecular typing, including multilocus sequence typing, spa, agr typing, and toxin detection were assessed for all S. aureus isolates. Overall, 501 SSTI patients were enrolled. Cutaneous abscess (40.7%) was the most common infection, followed by impetigo (6.8%) and cellulitis (4.8%). S. aureus accounted for 32.7% (164/501) of SSTIs. Five isolates (5/164, 3.0%) were CA-MRSA. The most dominant ST in CA-MSSA was ST398 (17.6%). The prevalence of Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (pvl) gene was 41.5% (66/159) in MSSA. Female, younger patients and infections requiring incision or drainage were more commonly associated with pvl-positive S. aureus (P

BACKGROUND: There is limited data on the clinical outcome of patients with pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) pneumonia who received oseltamivir treatment, especially when the treatment was administered more than 48 hours after symptom onset. METHODS: During the pandemic in 2009, a cohort of pH1N1 influenza pneumonia was built in China, and their clinical information was collected systematically, and analyzed with Cox models. RESULTS: 920 adults and 541 children with pneumonia who didn't receive corticosteroids were analyzed. In-hospital mortality was higher in adults who did not receive antiviral therapy (18.2%) than those with who received oseltamivir ≤ 2 days (2.9%), between 2-5 days (4.6%) and >5 days after illness onset (4.9%), p5 days, respectively. For males patients, aged ≥ 14 years and baseline PaO(2)/FiO(2)3.8 mg/kg/d) did not improve clinical outcome (mortality, higher dose 2.5% vs standard dose 2.8%, p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Antiviral therapy might reduce mortality of patients with pH1N1 pneumonia, even when initiated more than 48 hours after onset of illness. Greater protective effects might be in males, patients aged 14-60 years, and patients with PaO(2)/FiO(2)

Adult community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) and methicillin-susceptible S aureus (CAMSSA) skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) in China is not well described. A prospective cohort of adults with SSTI was established between January 2009 and August 2010 at 4 hospitals in Beijing. Susceptibility testing and molecular typing, including multilocus sequence typing, spa, agr typing, and toxin detection were assessed for all S. aureus isolates. Overall, 501 SSTI patients were enrolled. Cutaneous abscess (40.7%) was the most common infection, followed by impetigo (6.8%) and cellulitis (4.8%). S. aureus accounted for 32.7% (164/501) of SSTIs. Five isolates (5/164, 3.0%) were CA-MRSA. The most dominant ST in CA-MSSA was ST398 (17.6%). The prevalence of Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (pvl) gene was 41.5% (66/159) in MSSA. Female, younger patients and infections requiring incision or drainage were more commonly associated with pvlpositive S. aureus (P<0.03); sec gene was more often identified in CC5 (P,0.03); seh gene was more prevalent in CC1 (P = 0.001). Importantly, ST59 isolates showed more resistance to erythromycin, clindamycin and tetracycline, and needed more surgical intervention. In conclusion, CA-MRSA infections were rare among adult SSTI patients in Beijing. Six major MSSA clones were identified and associated with unique antimicrobial susceptibility, toxin profiles, and agr types. A high prevalence of livestock ST398 clone (17.1% of all S. aureus infections) was found with no apparent association to animal contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]