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Background: Evidence of lymphopoiesis, exhaustion, and premature aging in Chinese patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is very limited. Objective: To assess biological aging and immune senescence in Chinese healthy controls (HC) and ART-naïve HIV-infected men who have sex with men (MSM). Methods: This case-control study was conducted in Beijing Ditan Hospital from March 2018 to June 2019. The percentages of naïve (TN), central memory (TCM), effector memory (TEM), and terminally differentiated memory (TemRA) subsets of CD4 and CD8 T cells were studied, along with markers of senescence (CD28-CD57+) and activation (HLA-DR+). Telomere length of naïve (CD45RA+) and memory (CD45RO+) CD8 T cells were quantified by real-time PCR. Results: A total of 26 HIV-infected and 20 age-matched HC MSM were included. Compared to the HC group, the CD4/CD8 ratio of the HIV-infected group was significantly reduced (0.30 vs. 1.70, P Conclusion: HIV-infected MSM exhibit signs of accelerated immune senescence and biological aging, which particularly affects the CD8 T-cell subsets.

The objective of this study was to investigate the drug resistance characteristics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates to four first-line antituberculous drugs (ATDs) from tuberculosis (TB) patients with AIDS in Beijing, China. All M. tuberculosis strains were isolated from specimens from TB patients with AIDS hospitalised between April 2010 and October 2012. Isolates were cultured by mycobacterial culture methods and were identified by multilocus PCR. Drug sensitivity testing was performed by the proportion method with the following first-line ATDs: isoniazid; rifampicin; streptomycin; and ethambutol. Results were compared with the drug resistance status of M. tuberculosis strains isolated from TB patients without HIV infection in Beijing. Among 41 M. tuberculosis isolates from TB patients with AIDS, the rates of total drug resistance (58.5%), initial drug resistance (46.7%) and acquired drug resistance (90.9%) were significantly higher than in TB patients without HIV infection (34.1%, 24.5% and 48.5%, respectively; P

Background A common functional polymorphism (Val/Met) in the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene (COMT) that markedly affects enzyme activity has been shown to affect executive cognition and the physiology of the prefrontal cortex in humans. It is hypothesized that the high activity Val allele slightly increases risk for schizophrenia through its effect on dopamine-mediated prefrontal information processing. Methods We compared the allele/genotype frequencies of the Val/Met polymorphism in a large independent patient-control sample (862 patient and 928 healthy control subjects) from Han Chinese population, and an update meta-analysis was performed to assess the collective evidence across individual studies. Results No statistically significant differences were found in allele or genotype frequencies between patient and normal control subjects, although a nonsignificant overrepresentation of the Val allele in schizophrenia patients (odds ratio [OR] = 1.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] = .94-1.26) was suggested. Comparatively, the meta-analysis of all published population-based association studies showed statistically significant evidence for heterogeneity among the group of studies. Stratification of the studies by ethnicity of the samples yielded no significant evidence for an association with the Val allele in Asian population (OR = .96, 95% CI = .85-1.09), nor in European population (OR = 1.06, 95% CI = .95-1.19). Conclusions Our data provide minimal evidence that the Val allele is a susceptibility factor for schizophrenia in either European or Asian populations.

To the Editor: Japanese encephalitis (JE) epidemics have occurred only in Asia. More than 50,000 cases of JE with ≈10,000 deaths have been reported since 1998 (1,2). The People’s Republic of China reported 5,104 cases and 214 deaths in 2005. Most of these deaths occurred in infants (3,4). During July and August 2006, an outbreak of viral encephalitis occurred in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province, People’s Republic of China. A total of 66 cases (1.32/100,000 population) were reported, including 19 deaths (case-fatality rate 28.8%). The cases had a widespread distribution over 9 counties and involved 37 towns and 61 administrative villages. The ratio of male-to-female patients was 1:0.89. A distinct clinical feature of this outbreak was the age distribution. More than 86% of the patients were >30 years of age, with only 10% of patients 50 years of age (5). We report serologic and virologic findings for the 2006 outbreak of viral encephalitis. Forty-six clinical specimens collected from 34 patients who had a diagnosis of viral encephalitis, including 33 serum samples and 13 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples, were studied. All serum samples were screened for immunoglobulin M (IgM) to West Nile virus (WNV) by using the WNV IgM-capture ELISA kit (PanBio, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) and for IgM to dengue virus or Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) by using the JE-Dengue IgM Combination ELISA kit (PanBio). Results for JEV were confirmed by using the JE Virus IgM-Capture ELISA kit (Shanghai B & C Enterprise Development Co. Ltd, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China). WNV-specific or dengue virus–specific IgM was not detected in any samples. JEV-specific IgM was detected in 27 (80%) patients, which indicated recent JEV infections. The other 7 patients were negative for JEV by ELISA and reverse transcription–PCR (RT-PCR). Increases >4-fold in neutralizing antibodies were detected in acute- and convalescent-phase serum samples from 9 patients (10 serum pairs were collected during the outbreak). Attempts were made to detect virus in CSF of patients and in 2,400 mosquitoes. Mosquitoes (mainly Culex spp.) were collected in cow sheds and hog pens around houses and processed into pools of 100. Total RNA was extracted from CSF or mosquito homogenate by using the QIAamp viral RNA extraction kit (QIAGEN, Valencia, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer’s specifications. RT was performed by using Ready-To-Go-You Prime First Strand Beads (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Piscatawy, NJ, USA) and a seminested PCR to amplify 492-bp gene fragments of the premembrane (PrM) sequence of JEV by using the Takara LA Taq PCR kit (Takara Bio Inc., Shiga, Japan). The primers were derived from Ishikawa strain genome sequences (GenBank accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"AB051292","term_id":"12082323","term_text":"AB051292"}}AB051292). Primers PrMF: 5′-CGT TCT TCA AGT TTA CAG CAT TAG C-3′ (251–275), PrMR1: 5′-CGY TTG GAA TGY CTR GTC CG-3′ (724–743), and PrMR2: 5′-CCY RTG TTY CTG CCA AGC ATC CAM CC-3′ (901–925) were used. JEV PrM gene was amplified from CSF of 6 (46%) of 13 patients and 10 of 24 pools of mosquitoes by using the same seminested RT-PCR. To identify JEV genotype(s) involved in this outbreak, PCR products were sequenced. Eleven sequences (GenBank accession nos. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide-range","attrs":{"text":"EF434264-EF434274","start_term":"EF434264","end_term":"EF434274","start_term_id":"148925198","end_term_id":"148925218"}}EF434264-EF434274) were obtained from 6 patients and 5 pools of mosquitoes. The 11 sequences were compared phylogenetically with17 known JEV strains of the 4 recognized genotypes (classified on the basis of a 240-nt region of the prM gene). As shown in the Figure, the 11 sequences were those of JEV. Figure Phylogenetic analysis of Japanese encephalitis virus strains predicted from premembrane gene sequences. Neighbor-joining tree was generated by using MEGA 3.1 software (www.megasoftware.net) and rooted with Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) virus sequence ... Further analysis showed that these 11 sequences can be grouped into genotypes I and III. Both genotypes were found in patient and mosquito samples, indicating that these genotypes co-circulated during this JE outbreak. JE has been endemic in Yuncheng for many years (6). A vaccine against JE (SA14–14–2) has been used in this area in infants, but not in adults. This might be 1 reason why a higher adult incidence was found in this outbreak. JEV genotype III had been the predominant genotype in previous years, but genotype I has been recently detected at increased frequencies (7–10). Detection of 2 JEV genotypes in 1 epidemic has not been reported. Whether simultaneous circulation of >1 genotype during an outbreak indicates a new type of emergence of JEV or that this has occurred and not been detected is unknown.

To investigate the Cryptosporidium infection and its epidemiological characteristics in HIV/AIDS patients with chronic diarrhea.Stool samples collected from HIV/AIDS confirmed patients with chronic diarrhea who lived in Beijing, Henan and Xinjiang. Samples were concentrated by Formalin-Ethyl Acetate Sedimentation technique and stained by modified acid-fast stain (AFS) for the identification of oocysts by microscopy. CD4(+)T cells count was performed by Flow Cytometry.The overall infection rate of Cryptosporidium in AIDS patients was 12.6% (32/253). The infection rates of oocysts in the area of Beijing, Henan and Xinjiang were 5.97% (4/67), 16.1% (24/149) and 10.8% (4/37) respectively. The infection rate of oocysts in the urban areas was 6.5% (7/104) while in the countryside it was 16.8% (25/149) and the difference was significantly different. However, there were no any differences discovered between the infection rates on patient's gender or on infection occurred in different seasons. The infectious rates of oocyst in patients on different stages of the disease were also significantly different (P0.01).AIDS patients infected by Cryptosporidium were not rarely seen in northern China. The rate of infection was not associated with patient's gender but was associated with patient's living environments. Patients living in the countryside, with lower lever of CD4(+)T cells counts and at the middle/late stage of the disease, Cryptosporidium infection appeared to be high.

To describe the epidemiologic characteristics and clinical manifestations of 59 persons recruited via an internet chat group who complained of AIDS-like symptoms, so as to formulate effective intervention strategies and measures.Case was defined as onset of any three of the following self-reported AIDS-like symptoms in a member of relevant "internet chat groups": persistent low grade fever, rash, swollen lymph node, fatigue, diarrhea, weight loss and low CD4(+)T count. We administered an internet-based questionnaire, and invited 59 of the 88 case-persons for voluntary physical examination and laboratory testing.The 59 case-persons came from 22 provinces; 54 (91.5%) were men; the median age was 34 (range: 22-53) years; 84.7% of them had high-risk sexual behaviors before the onset of self-reported symptoms. The median time interval from exposure to onset was 15 d (range: 1-365 d). Blood specimens for all the 59 case-persons were tested negative for HIV and syphilis antibodies. There was also no evidence of Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus infection. One case-person was tested positive for hepatitis C virus antibody. The average CD4(+)T lymphocyte count was 707/µl. Of the 59 case-persons, 57 (96.6%) sought medical care from multiple providers; 40 were diagnosed to have no physical disorders.None of the 59 case-persons had any evidence of infection with HIV or any other infectious agents that could explain their self-reported symptoms.

This research was supported by the fund of “Clinical Study on Traditional Chinese Medicine for Severe A (H1N1) Influenza Cases 200907001-2A”. Equal contributions to this paper. Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr. Xing-Wang LI, Center of Infectious Disease, Beijing Ditan Hospital, No.8 Jingshun Dongjie, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100015, China. Tel: 86-10-8432-2585; E-mail: ditanlxw@yahoo.com.cn Biographical note of the first author: Jun YANG, male, born in 1968, Doctor of Department of Radiology, Beijing Ditan Hospital, majoring in diagnosis of imaging. E-mail: yangjun6806@yahoo.com.cn

During the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) epidemic in China, children are the main group among people infected with influenza A (H1N1) virus, but few reports about children are available. The present study aimed to observe the clinical, laboratory features and to analyze therapeutic result.The research subject were 93 children infected with influenza A (H1N1), 59 male and 34 female who were treated in Beijing Ditan Hospital from 15 May 2009 to 10 September 2009. The patients' data on symptoms, signs, chest X-ray, blood routine test, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C reactive protein (CRP), liver function, renal function, helper T lymphocyte were collected and analyzed. The patients were treated with Oseltamivir, traditional Chinese medicine and symptomatic treatment.The main symptoms of children infected with influenza A (H1N1) are fever (84 cases, 90.3%), cough (62 cases, 66.7%), pharyngodynia (36 cases, 38.7%) and expectoration (19 cases, 20.4%) at onset, and fever (59 cases, 63.4%), cough (52 cases, 55.9%), pharyngodynia (23 cases, 24.7%) and expectoration (9 cases, 9.7%) were the mojor symptoms and signs while the patients visited our hospital. The main signs were fervescence, pharyngeal congestion (53 cases, 57.0%), tonsilar swelling (21 cases, 22.6%), and abnormal white blood count (WBC) was found in 32 cases, abnormal ESR in 10 cases, abnormal CRP in 10 cases, abnormal CD4 T lymphocyte count in 19 cases, abnormal liver function and renal function were found in very few patients. After treatment, the febrile duration and time to virus negative in patients treated with oseltamivir alone, traditional Chinese medicine alone, combined oseltamivir and traditional Chinese medicine as well as those who were neither treated with oseltamivir nor traditional Chinese medicine were respectively 1 - 6 days (median 1 day), 3 - 13 days (median 7 days), 1 - 6 days (median 1.5 days), 4 - 11 days (median 8 days), 1 - 5 days (median 1 days), 5 - 14 days (median 8 days), 1 - 5 days (median 2 days), 4 - 13 days (median 8 days).Clinical manifestations of 93 children cases were the same as those of adults. The traditional Chinese medicine could improve symptoms of children infected with influenza A (H1N1), but other clinical therapeutic effects need further study.

BACKGROUND The first case of 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus infection in China was documented on May 10. Subsequently, persons with suspected cases of infection and contacts of those with suspected infection were tested. Persons in whom infection was confirmed were hospitalized and quarantined, and some of them were closely observed for the purpose of investigating the nature and duration of the disease. METHODS During May and June 2009, we observed 426 persons infected with the 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus who were quarantined in 61 hospitals in 20 provinces. Realtime reverse-transcriptase–polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) testing was used to confirm infection, the clinical features of the disease were closely monitored, and 254 patients were treated with oseltamivir within 48 hours after the onset of disease. RESULTS The mean age of the 426 patients was 23.4 years, and 53.8% were male. The diagnosis was made at ports of entry (in 32.9% of the patients), during quarantine (20.2%), and in the hospital (46.9%). The median incubation period of the virus was 2 days (range, 1 to 7). The most common symptoms were fever (in 67.4% of the patients) and cough (69.5%). The incidence of diarrhea was 2.8%, and the incidence of nausea and vomiting was 1.9%. Lymphopenia, which was common in both adults (68.1%) and children (92.3%), typically occurred on day 2 (range, 1 to 3) and resolved by day 7 (range, 6 to 9). Hypokalemia was observed in 25.4% of the patients. Duration of fever was typically 3 days (range, 1 to 11). The median length of time during which patients had positive real-time RT-PCR test results was 6 days (range, 1 to 17). Independent risk factors for prolonged real-time RT-PCR positivity included an age of less than 14 years, male sex, and a delay from the onset of symptoms to treatment with oseltamivir of more than 48 hours. CONCLUSIONS Surveillance of the 2009 H1N1 virus in China shows that the majority of those infected have a mild illness. The typical period during which the virus can be detected with the use of real-time RT-PCR is 6 days (whether or not fever is present). The duration of infection may be shortened if oseltamivir is administered.

To explore the optimized clinical management and therapeutic strategies for the survived human case infected by influenza A (A/H5N1).All the data of the first human case infected by A/H5N1 in Guizhou province was collected and analyzed.The first case infected by A/H5N1 in Guizhou Province was confirmed by laboratory findings with reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and A/H5N1 isolation. Patient was healthy in the past and exposed in the environment of living poultry. The initial symptoms was high fever without influenza-like presentation, but with extremity hyperspasmia and conscious disturbance sometimes. A productive cough with a large mount of pink foaming sputum then appeared. The clinical situation was rapidly deteriorated with dyspnea, acute respiratory distress syndrome and atrial fibrillation. Multiple infiltration in bilateral lungs was progressively developed with moderate bilateral pleural effusion. Invasive ventilation was intervened since ARDS on day 8 after sickness. Oseltamivir was kicked off since day 9 after sickness. However, the clinical condition was still exacerbated. High titering antibody of A/H5N1 vaccinated plasma was administrated on day 10 after sickness. The clinical condition (including oxygen saturation, respiratory symptoms, etc.) was improved rapidly. The weaning of ventilation was carried out in two days. Atrial fibrillation was back to normal. The patient was clinical recovery and was discharged from hospital on day 23 after sickness.The prognosis was poor if A/H5N1 infected human cases developed as acute respiratory distress syndrome with heart injury. However, it could be ameliorated if the plasma of A/H5N1 vaccinated neutralizing antibody was administrated in time or within two weeks after sickness.

Linkage studies have suggested that chromosome 15q13-q14 may harbor a susceptibility locus for schizophrenia. In the current study, the association between a (AC)n dinucleotide repeat polymorphism at D15S118 and schizophrenia was investigated using three independent samples from the Han Chinese population and the Scotland population. In the popula- tion-based study, a significant difference was found between the allele frequency distributions in schizophrenia patients andcontrol subjects in the Scottish samples (P = 0.04), but was not replicated in the Chinese samples. In a family-based study, no significant transmission disequilibrium from heterozygous parents to affected offspring was observed. Overall, our re- sults did not support the hypothesis that the (AC)n dinucleotide repeat polymorphism plays a major role in schizophrenia susceptibility, at least in the Chinese population. Further studies are needed to elucidate its role in schizophrenia susceptibi- lity in European population.

A case-control study was carried out on a sample of 583 cases vs. 372 controls in the Chinese Han population, investigating several published polymorphisms in the YWHAH and NPY genes, which reported to be associated with schizophrenia. The polymorphism -134 (GCCTGCA)2-4, in the YWHAH was not analyzed for the failure of amplification, and the polymorphism T1128C in the NPY is not existent in the samples. The analysis was then emphasized on the variants -485CT(NPY) and G753A(YWHAH). However, no significant differences of allele frequencies (with P values of 0.696 and 0.743, OR values of 1.041 and 0.962 respectively) or genotype frequencies (with P value of 0.45 and 0.75, chi2 = 1.51 and 0.58 respectively) among the matched groups were found. No sex-dependent effect was found either. Also,the analysis of the relative risk between the genotypes of the two genes indicates that the two genes could not cooperate with each other to add the risk of disease (P0.05). The results suggest that the polymorphisms - 485CT (NPY) and G753A (YWHAH) are unlikely to be linked with genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia in the Chinese Han population.

It is known that in the pathogenesis of mental retardation (MR), both genetic and environmental factors (particularly iodine deficiency) appear to play a critical role. Transthyretin (TTR) transports between 20% and 30% of serum thyroxine in normal individuals and it is the main T(4)-binding protein in CSF. Variability in the TTR gene may influence risk for iodine-deficiency-based MR. The SNPs we selected from dbSNP were detected and identified using ARMS-PCR and sequencing methods, and we identified five novel sequence variants. Singular-locus association analysis indicated no association between the TTR gene and MR. In haplotype analysis, however, we found a haplotype CGTG+ (rs723744/G+6649C/T+6690C/rs2276382/del9) showed a weak positive association with MR (chi(2) = 6.699, p = 0.035). Finally, we concluded that the weak positive result is more likely to be due to sampling error and the small size of this haplotype resulting from its relative low frequency. Our negative results provide no evidence that variants of TTR gene influence susceptibility to MR in the iodine-deficient areas of China and suggest that there may be a compensatory mechanism(s) in humans and mice, which work(s) to compensate the effect of mutation in the TTR gene on MR.

Neurotransmitter-based hypotheses have so far led to only moderate success in predicting new pathogenetic findings in etiology of schizophrenia. On the other hand, the more recent oligodendroglia hypotheses of this disorder have been supported by an increasing body of evidence. For example, the expression level of the myelin associated glycoprotein (MAG) gene has been shown to be significantly lower in schizophrenia patient groups compared to control groups. Such an effect might be a result of genetic variations of the MAG gene. In order to test this hypothesis, we genotyped four markers within the MAG locus in 413 trios sample of the Han Chinese using allele-specific PCR. None of the four markers revealed noticeable allelic significance. However, the four-marker and two-marker haplotypes covering components rs720309 and rs720308 were observed to be significantly associated with schizophrenia (P0.0001) in this study. In addition, we identified one common risk haplotype TA (rs720309-rs720308, present in 78.5% of the general population) that showed increased evidence of overtransmission from parents to affected offspring (P = 0.0001). The results demonstrated MAG might play a role in genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia. Furthermore, our finding of a possible association between the MAG locus and schizophrenia is in agreement with the hypotheses of oligodendrltic and myelination dysfunction.