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In groundwater environments, the interaction between microbial communities and the hydrogeochemical parameters have been investigated extensively in the past years. However, little is known whether the maximum contamination level (MCL) is a threshold value that dictates the microbial composition. In this study, we analyzed 10 groundwater samples for their nitrate, nitrite, COD and sulfate concentrations, and characterized their microbial compositions using 16 S rRNA based high-throughput sequencing methods. All the 10 samples had oxygen demands higher than the corresponding MCL of China (10 mg L -1 ); moreover, 4 out of 10 samples also had nitrate concentrations higher than the corresponding MCL, which indicated that the groundwater quality was negatively impacted by anthropogenic activities. Comparing the microbial composition of groundwater that had higher-than-MCL nitrate concentrations to those that had lower-than-MCL nitrate concentrations, no significant differences were detected in communities' richness and diversity. However, the non-metric multi-dimensional analysis suggested that the 4 groundwater samples whose nitrate concentration exceed MCL are distinctly different from those of the rest 6 samples, indicating that MCL does have a significant impact on microbial structures. Pearson's correlation analysis suggested that none of the four analyzed hydrochemical parameters had significant impact on microbial communities' richness and diversity; however, at the genus level, the correlation results suggested that JG30-KM-CM45, Sphingomonas and Rhodococcus are closely correlated with nitrate concentration. The findings of this study deepened our understanding with respect to the relationships between the environmental quality indices and the microbial compositions of groundwater., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In recent decades, the impact of dengue has increased both geographically and in intensity, and this disease is now a threat to approximately half of the world's population. An unexpected large outbreak of dengue fever was reported in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China, in 2013. This was the first autochthonous outbreak with a significant proportion of severe dengue cases in mainland China in a decade. According to the 2009 World Health Organization guidelines, half of the 136 laboratory confirmed cases during the epidemic were severe dengue. The clinical presentation included severe haemorrhage (such as massive vaginal and gastrointestinal bleeding), severe plasma leakage (such as pleural effusion, ascites, or hypoproteinaemia), and organ involvement (such as myocarditis and lung impairment); 21 cases eventually deteriorated to shock. During this outbreak, all severe cases occurred in adults, among whom about 43% had co-morbid conditions. Nucleic acid detection and virus isolation confirmed dengue virus serotype 3 (DENV-3) to be the pathogenic agent of this outbreak. Phylogenetic analyses of envelope gene sequences showed that these DENV-3 isolates belonged to genotype II. This finding is of great importance to understand the circulation of DENV and predict the risk of severe disease in mainland China. Here, we provide a brief report of the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and aetiology of this dengue fever outbreak, and characterize DENV strains isolated from clinical specimens., (Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Inflammation has been associated with cardiovascular events and mortality, using C-reactive protein (CRP) as a marker. We examined whether the baseline serum concentration of CRP can independently predict the development of hypertension or future systolic or diastolic blood pressure (BP) in a community-based population in Taiwan., Methods: A study population sample was recruited in cycle 2 (1990-1993) of the CardioVascular Disease risk FACtors Two-township Study (CVDFACTS) and was followed to 1994-1997. A total of 2,113 nondiabetic adults with normal BP were enrolled for the study of incident hypertension. Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥ 140 mm Hg, a diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥ 90 mm Hg, or the use of antihypertensive drugs. Cox regression and linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between baseline serum concentrations of CRP measured with a high-sensitivity assay and the development of hypertension and future SBP/DBP and pulse pressure (PP)., Results: During the follow-up period of a median of 3.27 years, 145 participants developed incident hypertension. The incidence rates of hypertension by tertile of increasing CRP were 9.3, 19.0, and 33.0 per 1,000 person-years (P for trend < 0.01). In the multivariate model adjusted for age, gender, and prehypertension, baseline CRP remained significantly predictive of incident hypertension. The concentration of CRP was associated with SBP and PP, but not with DBP., Conclusion: Inflammation is associated with future SBP in the Taiwanese population.

Aim: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a major culprit in cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Western populations. We studied the longitudinal association between MetS and incident CKD in Chinese adults., Methods: A cohort study was conducted in a nationally representative sample of 4248 Chinese adults in Taiwan. The MetS was defined according to a unified criteria set by several major organizations and CKD was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 mL/min per 1.73 m(2). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) adjusted for sex, age, body mass index (BMI) and serum levels of total cholesterol., Results: The prevalence of MetS among participants at baseline recruitment was 15.0% (637/4248). During a median follow-up period of 5.40 years, 208 subjects (4.9%) developed CKD. The multivariate-adjusted HR of CKD in participants with MetS compared with those without was 1.42 (95% CI = 1.03, 1.73). Additionally, there was a significantly graded relationship between the number of the MetS components and risk of CKD. Further, the relation between MetS and incident CKD was more robust in subjects with BMI >27.5 kg/m(2) than in those with lower BMI., Conclusion: The results suggest that the presence of MetS was significantly associated with increased risk of incident CKD in a Chinese population. These findings warrant future studies to test the impact of preventing and treating MetS on the reduction of the occurrence of CKD., (© 2012 The Authors. Nephrology © 2012 Asian Pacific Society of Nephrology.)

Background: Electrocardiographic (ECG) findings are known to differ by race, however, systematic comparisons of findings between eastern and western countries are rare., Objective: To compare the ECG findings and associated coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors between Taiwan Chinese and US White adults aged >or=40 years., Methods: We compared the prevalence rate of Minnesota Code criteria based ECG findings and associated CHD risk factors by using data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) and the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (NAHSIT, 1993-1996)., Results: Examining all the ECG findings collectively, we observed a higher prevalence of major Minnesota Code findings in Taiwan Chinese women than in US White women (15.0% vs. 10.5%), particularly ST segment depression (5.4% vs. 2.4%) and T wave abnormalities (10.8% vs. 4.8%). The prevalence of major Minnesota Code findings was similar in both Taiwan Chinese and US White men (22.7% vs. 19.6%). Taiwan Chinese men had a higher prevalence of ST segment elevation (13.7% vs. 0.9%). Taiwan Chinese also had a higher prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy with repolarization change than US Whites in both sexes (2.7% vs. 1.4% for men, 4.3% vs. 1.3% for women). Taiwan Chinese had more favorable CHD risk factor profiles than US Whites, including lipid profile, obesity, central obesity, and smoking status. The prevalence of hypertension was similar between the two groups, however, a lower percentage of Taiwan Chinese received treatment. Taiwan Chinese men had a lower prevalence of diabetes mellitus than US White men, whereas Taiwan Chinese women had a higher prevalence than US White women., Conclusion: These results suggest that substantial differences in ECG findings exist between Taiwan Chinese and US Whites which cannot be entirely explained by CHD risk factors alone.

Background: Epidemiologic data regarding the role of inflammation in atherosclerosis have been based mainly on Caucasian populations. Thus, we analyzed the cross-sectional relationships of inflammatory biomarkers to cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and related variables in a large group of healthy Chinese men, a population with a markedly lower heart disease mortality rate compared with Western populations., Methods: The study consisted of 8374 men aged 20-80 who attended a voluntary health examination at a metropolitan university center between 1997 and 2002. The relationships between serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), total white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil, and monocyte counts to CVRF were analyzed using multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses. Whether a dose-response effect existed between elevated levels of each marker and increasing numbers of CVRF was also evaluated., Results: The distribution of hsCRP was similar to Western studies. Both multivariate regression analyses showed all four markers to have significant correlations with body mass index, triglycerides, and adverse high density lipoprotein/low density lipoprotein ratio. Smoking was associated with increased levels of all four markers. Elevated neutrophil count had the most markedly progressive dose-response effect with increasing numbers of CVRF, whereas elevated monocyte count showed a drop in risk with CVRF of five and above., Conclusion: We show in our study that with increasing numbers of standard CVRF, healthy Chinese men have progressive and increasing risks of having elevated levels of hsCRP, total WBC, and neutrophil counts. While the inflammatory markers surveyed were largely correlated with CVRF, the similar values of CRP between populations with divergent mortality rates suggest that a more complex relationship may exist between CRP and disease outcome. The possible utility of neutrophil count as a marker for cardiovascular disease risk in healthy men awaits further evaluation in prospective studies.

The role of hemostatic factors in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease has gained much attention recently. Information about hemostatic factors, and their age patterns is sparse for orientals. With the data collected in the Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Two-township Study in Taiwan, this study shows that, in general, the older the age, the stronger the tendency toward thrombosis. With advancing age, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, and antithrombin-III level decreased steadily; but mean values of fibrinogen, factor VIIc, and factor VIIIc increased. Gender differences in the age patterns of the above factors are carefully described. Curvilinear relations between hemostatic factors and age were demonstrated for adults aged 18 and above for all hemostatic factors studied. This curvilinearity should be taken into consideration when adjusting for the effect of age in data analysis to avoid residual confounding, particularly when the age range of the study subjects is wide.