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Individuals with genetic defects show an increased susceptibility to poorly pathogenic mycobacteria including nontuberculous mycobacteria and Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG). In previous studies, defects in multiple genes were identified to be associated with mycobacterium infection including tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2). The mutations lead to insufficient production of interferon (IFN)-γ or an insufficient response to IFN-α/β, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, IL-12 and IL-23. Herein, we describe a case of Mycobacterium intracellulare infection in a male with abdominal pain and diarrhea. Whole exome sequencing of the genomes revealed a compound heterozygous mutation (c.3083A>G/c.2590C>T, p.N1028S/p.R864C) in the TYK2 gene. The patient recovered after two years of anti-mycobacterial treatment and no relapse was observed so far. We also reviewed 24 cases of mycobacterial infection associated with TYK2 deficiency which provides evidence of how personalised genomics can improve outcomes.

Purpose Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem globally, especially in undeveloped countries. This study aimed to evaluate and review the long-term epidemic trends of tuberculosis in China. Methods Data were extracted from the Global Health Data Exchange. Metrics (prevalence, incidence and mortality) and Joinpoint regression were used to identify the epidemic trends. Results From 1990 to 2017, decreasing trends in prevalence (average annual percent change, AAPC: -0.5%, 95% CI: -0.6% to -0.5%), incidence (-3.2%, 95% CI: -3.5% to -2.9%), and mortality (-5.7%, 95% CI: -6.2% to -5.3%) of tuberculosis were observed. The incidence and mortality of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) decreased with AAPC of -2.3% (-3.1% to -1.4%) and -4.9% (-5.4% to -4.5%), respectively, while the prevalence increased with an AAPC of 1.2% (0.3% to 2.0%). The burden of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) increased with an AAPC of 12.5% (11.9% to 13.2%) in prevalence, 7.6% (6.5% to 8.7%) in incidence, and 4.5% (3.6% to 5.4%) in mortality. The disease burden of tuberculosis increased with age and peaked among those aged over 70. Conclusion The epidemic of tuberculosis decreased in China, while the disease burden was still challenging to control. MDR-TB and XDR-TB should be emphasized along with the epidemic. It will certainly be a difficult task to achieve the post-2015 global targets by 2025 and 2035.

Two experiments were conducted to estimate the metabolisable energy (ME) and net energy (NE) of rice straw and wheat straw for beef cattle. In each experiment, 16 Wandong bulls (Chinese indigenous yellow cattle) were assigned to 4 dietary treatments in a completely randomised design. Four dietary treatments included one corn silage-concentrate basal diet and three test diets in which the basal diet was partly substituted by rice straw (Exp. 1) or wheat straw (Exp. 2) at 100, 300 and 600 g/kg. Total collection of faeces and urine was conducted for 5 consecutive days after a 2-week adaption period, followed by a 4-d period where gas exchange measurements were measured by an open-circuit respiratory cage. Linear regression equations of rice straw- or wheat straw-associated ME and NE contribution in test diets against rice straw or wheat straw substitution amount were developed to predict the ME and NE values of rice straw and wheat straw. These regression equations resulted in ME and NE values (dry matter basis) of 6.76 and 3.42 MJ/kg for rice straw and 6.43 and 3.28 MJ/kg for wheat straw, respectively. The NE and ME requirement for maintenance of Wandong cattle fed a straw-based diet were 357 and 562 kJ·kg

Number processing disorder is an acquired deficit in mathematical skills commonly observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD), usually as a consequence of neurological dysfunction. Common impairments include syntactic errors (800012 instead of 8012) and intrusion errors (8 thousand and 12 instead of eight thousand and twelve) in number transcoding tasks. This study aimed to understand the characterization of AD-related number processing disorder within an alphabetic language (English) and ideographical language (Chinese), and to investigate the differences between alphabetic and ideographic language processing. Chinese-speaking AD patients were hypothesized to make significantly more intrusion errors than English-speaking ones, due to the ideographical nature of both Chinese characters and Arabic numbers. A simplified number transcoding test derived from EC301 battery was administered to AD patients. Chinese-speaking AD patients made significantly more intrusion errors (p = 0.001) than English speakers. This demonstrates that number processing in an alphabetic language such as English does not function in the same manner as in Chinese. The impaired inhibition capability likely contributes to such observations due to its competitive lexical representation in brain for Chinese speakers.

A nickel(II) complex, [NiL(phen)2]L·5H2O (HL = 2-phenyl-4-selenazole carboxylic acid, C10H7O2NSe, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline), was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and IR. The single crystal structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. C88H78N12Ni2O19Se4 crystallized in the triclinic system, space group Pī. The interaction between the complex and the calf thymus DNA was studied by an ethidium bromide fluorescent probe. The antibacterial activities of the complex and ligand against five species of bacteria, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus viridans, Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumanii, were tested. The anticancer activities of the complex against human pancreatic cancer line PANC-28 and human hepatocarcinoma line HuH7 were also studied by employing an MTT assay.

It is widely accepted that the characteristics and separation performance of carbonized membranes can be optimized by controlling the parameters of pyrolysis protocol. In spite of this, plenty of research studies have pointed out that the chemical composition and moiety geometry, chain rigidity and structure, and physicochemical properties of polymeric precursors play major roles in determining the properties of the resultant pyrolytic membranes, especially the micro‐pore structure and separation capability. Therefore, the morphological, structural and microphase control of the polymeric membranes are the essential keys to fabricate highly permeable and selective carbon membranes. This review paper aims to give an overview about the precursor materials aspects, preparations and their influence on the separation properties of carbon molecular sieve membranes (CMSMs). The evolution of membrane structure and separation performance from the state of polymer to carbon is also included. The subjects co...

The magnetic-field-induced Freedericksz transition of a planar aligned nematic liquid crystal doped with 1.0 wt % of a diamagnetic porphyrinatozinc(II) has been studied. It was observed that 5CB doped with 1.0 wt % of derivatives of Zn(II)TPP-5,10,15,20-tetraphenyl-porphyrinatozinc(II) - which have different substituents in one phenyl ring display sharp Freedericksz transition curves and dramatically decrease the critical magnetic field compared with pure 5CB.