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After the termination of zero-COVID-19 policy, the populace in China has experienced both Omicron BA.5 and XBB waves. Considering the poor antibody responses and severe outcomes observed among the elderly following infection, we conducted a longitudinal investigation to examine the epidemiological characteristics and antibody kinetics among 107 boosted elderly participants following the Omicron BA.5 and XBB waves. We observed that 96 participants (89.7%) were infected with Omicron BA.5, while 59 (55.1%) participants were infected with Omicron XBB. Notably, 52 participants (48.6%) experienced dual infections of both Omicron BA.5 and XBB. The proportion of symptomatic cases appeared to decrease following the XBB wave (18.6%) compared to that after the BA.5 wave (59.3%). Omicron BA.5 breakthrough infection induced lower neutralizing antibody titers against XBB.1.5, BA.2.86, and JN.1, while reinfection with Omicron XBB broadened the antibody responses against all measured Omicron subvariants and may alleviate the wild type-vaccination induced immune imprinting. Boosted vaccination type and comorbidities were the significant factors associated with antibody responses. Updated vaccines based on emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants are needed to control the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic in the elderly., (© 2024 The Authors. Journal of Medical Virology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Tylophora yunnanensis Schltr (TYS) is widely distributed in Yunnan, Guizhou, and other places in China. It is commonly used by folks to treat hepatitis and other liver-related diseases; however, its mechanism of action is still unclear., Aim of the Study: This study aimed to determine the effects of TYS on regulating gut microbiota and its metabolites in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) rats by inhibiting the activation of NOD-like receptor protein3 (NLRP3)., Material and Methods: An HFD-induced rat model was established to investigate if the intragastric administration of TYS could mediate gut microbiota and their metabolites to ultimately improve the symptoms of NASH. The improving effects of TYS on NASH rats were assessed by measuring their body weight, lipid levels, histopathology, and inflammatory factor levels in the rat models. The regulatory effects of TYS on NLRP3 in the NASH rats were analyzed using real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which determined the levels of NLRP3-related factors. The changes in the composition of the gut microbiota of NASH rats were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing technology. Meanwhile, the Ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was used for the non-targeted analysis of metabolites in the cecum contents., Results: The results showed that TYS could improve NASH by decreasing the body weight and levels of lipid, AST, ALT, LPS, FFA, VLDL, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, TGF-β, NLRP3, ASC, and Caspase-1 in the NASH rats. The analysis of gut microbiota showed that TYS could improve the diversity and abundance of gut microbiota and alter their composition by decreasing the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio and relative abundances of Lachnospiraceae, Christensenellaceae, Blautia, etc. while increasing those of Muribaculaceae, Rumiaococcus, Ruminococcaceae, etc. The analysis of metabolites in the cecum contents suggested that the arachidonic acid metabolism, bile secretion, serotonergic synapse, Fc epsilon RI signaling pathway, etc. were regulated by TYS. The metabolites enriched in these pathways mainly included chenodeoxycholic acid, prostaglandin D2, TXB2, 9-OxoODE, and 13(S)-HOTrE., Conclusions: These findings suggested that TYS could alleviate the NASH symptoms by decreasing the body weight, regulating the lipid levels, reducing the inflammatory response, and inhibiting the expression levels of NLRP3, ASC, and Caspase-1 in the NASH rats. The changes in the composition of gut microbiota and their metabolic disorder were closely related to the activation of NLRP3. TYS could significantly inhibit the activation of NLRP3 and regulate the composition of gut microbiota and the disorder of metabolites during NASH modeling., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None of the authors has any conflict of interest regarding this study., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the joint monitoring of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in vertebral canal decompression surgery for acute spinal cord injury., Methods: Twenty-four patients, who were admitted to the hospital for the surgical treatment of spinal cord injury with SEP and MEP monitoring, were assigned to the intraoperative monitoring group (group I). In addition, 24 patients who were admitted to the hospital for the surgical treatment of spinal cord injury without SEP or MEP monitoring were assigned to the control group (group C)., Results: In group I, there were significant changes before and after decompression surgery in the P40 latency and amplitude, and in the latency of MEP in the abductor hallucis brevis (AHB), in patients with improved spinal nerve function following surgery. In contrast, there were no significant differences in the P40 latency or amplitude, or the latency of MEP in the AHB, in patients who showed no improvement after surgery., Conclusion: In vertebral canal decompression surgery for acute spinal cord injury, the application of joint MEP and SEP monitoring can timely reflect changes in spinal cord function.

Objective: We aimed to predict population composition, mortality, sociodemographic index (SDI), and cause-specific disability-adjusted life year (DALY) rate in China from 2018 through 2021., Study Design: Using the time series method autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models on all available data, mainly Statistics Year Report by the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017, we predicted populations, deaths, DALYs attributable to disease conditions, and injuries (causes) for China from 2018 through 2021 at levels 0, 1, 2, and 3., Methods: The time series method ARIMA models was used on history data., Results: The predicted total population and SDI in China are increasing from 2018 through 2021. The under-5 mortality is decreasing; from 10.24% to 0.65% in the period 1990-2021. The all-cause DALY rate decreases. The top causes of DALY rate are non-communicable diseases (level 1), cardiovascular diseases (level 2), and stroke (level 3). For the leading 22 level 2 causes in 2018, the trend of ranking in 2021 is as follows: unchanged, 15; increasing, 4; and decreasing, 3. For the leading 169 level 3 causes in 2018, the trend of ranking in 2021 is: as follows: unchanged, 49; increasing, 63; and decreasing 57., Conclusions: Cause-specific and time-dependent health policy should be steered to reduce the major burden focuses and to improve population health., (Copyright © 2019 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a major public health burden in China, and its prevalence is increasing. This study aimed to determine the risk factors and biomarkers of NAFLD., Design: An observational cross-sectional primary survey., Setting: Central China., Participants: The study included 1479 participants aged over 18 and below 80 years, not currently being treated for cancer or infectious disease or no surgery in the previous year, and no history of cancer or an infectious disease. Participants underwent clinical examination, metabolomic assay and anthropometric assessment. Univariate and logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate associations between covariates and NAFLD., Main Outcome Measures: Risk factors and metabolic biomarkers including sex, body mass index, hypertension, body fat ratio, blood triglycerides, blood fasting glucose, liver enzyme elevation, uric acid and oleic acid-hydroxy oleic acid (OAHOA)., Results: Data from the 447 participants (mean age 44.3±11.9 years) were analysed, and the prevalence of NAFLD was 24.7%. Male sex (OR 3.484, 95% CI 2.028 to 5.988), body mass index ≥24 kg/m 2 (OR 8.494, 95% CI 5.581 to 12.928), body fat ratio (≥25 for women, ≥20 for men) (OR 1.833, 95% CI 1.286 to 2.756), triglycerides ≥1.7 mmol/L (OR 1.340, 95% CI 1.006 to 1.785), fasting glucose ≥6.1 mmol/L (OR 3.324, 95% CI 1.888 to 5.850), blood pressure ≥140/90 mm Hg or antihypertensive drug treatment (OR 1.451, 95% CI 1.069 to 1.970), uric acid (≥357 μmol/L for women, ≥416 μmol/L for men) (OR 2.755, 95% CI 2.009 to 3.778) and OAHOA (<5 nmol/L) (OR 1.340, 95% CI 1.006 to 1.785) were independent predictors of NAFLD (all P<0.05). These results were verified by all 1479 participants., Conclusions: NAFLD was common among the study participants. In particular, NAFLD was correlated with uric acid. We identified OAHOA as a novel marker of NAFLD prevalence. It provides a reference on the prevention of NAFLD and related metabolic diseases with the rapid urbanisation, technological advancement and population ageing in China over the recent decades., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Background & Aims: Diseases of the stomach, including gastric cancer and peptic ulcer, are the most common digestive diseases. It is impossible to visualize the entire stomach with the passive capsule currently used in practice because of the large size of the gastric cavity. A magnetically controlled capsule endoscopy (MCE) system has been designed to explore the stomach. We performed a prospective study to compare the accuracy of detection of gastric focal lesions by MCE vs conventional gastroscopy (the standard method)., Methods: We performed a multicenter blinded study comparing MCE with conventional gastroscopy in 350 patients (mean age, 46.6 y), with upper abdominal complaints scheduled to undergo gastroscopy at a tertiary center in China from August 2014 through December 2014. All patients underwent MCE, followed by conventional gastroscopy 2 hours later, without sedation. We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of detection of gastric focal lesions by MCE, using gastroscopy as the standard., Results: MCE detected gastric focal lesions in the whole stomach with 90.4% sensitivity (95% confidence interval [CI], 84.7%-96.1%), 94.7% specificity (95% CI, 91.9%-97.5%), a positive predictive value of 87.9% (95% CI, 81.7%-94.0%), a negative predictive value of 95.9% (95% CI, 93.4%-98.4%), and 93.4% accuracy (95% CI, 90.83%-96.02%). MCE detected focal lesions in the upper stomach (cardia, fundus, and body) with 90.2% sensitivity (95% CI, 82.0%-98.4%) and 96.7% specificity (95% CI, 94.4%-98.9%). MCE detected focal lesions in the lower stomach (angulus, antrum, and pylorus) with 90.6% sensitivity (95% CI, 82.7%-98.4%) and 97.9% specificity (95% CI, 96.1%-99.7%). MCE detected 1 advanced gastric carcinoma, 2 malignant lymphomas, and 1 early stage gastric tumor. MCE did not miss any lesions of significance (including tumors or large ulcers). Among the 350 patients, 5 reported 9 adverse events (1.4%) and 335 preferred MCE over gastroscopy (95.7%)., Conclusions: MCE detects focal lesions in the upper and lower stomach with comparable accuracy with conventional gastroscopy. MCE is preferred by almost all patients, compared with gastroscopy, and can be used to screen gastric diseases without sedation. Clinicaltrials.gov number: NCT02219529., (Copyright © 2016 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: In esophageal cancer, depth of wall penetration, reflected by T classification, represents the most important prognostic variable. Our study aimed to investigate the impact of tumor length, measured as the longitudinal length, on the outcome of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients., Methods: The survival data of 362 ESCC patients who underwent surgical resection as the primary treatment between 1999 and 2007 were collected retrospectively. Receiver-operator characteristic analysis was applied to identify the optimal cut-off values., Results: 4.0 cm was identified as the optimal cut-off value within the whole group. Tumor length greater than 4.0 cm was associated with increasing T stage (P=0.001), N stage (P=0.046), and tumor differentiation (P=0.033). Univariate analysis and multivariate analysis both found that tumor length greater than 4.0 cm was associated with worse overall survival compared with shorter tumors (P<0.001). It appeared to have a greater impact on N0-N1 (P<0.001, P=0.026, respectively) than N2-N3 and appeared to have a higher impact on the lower-stage patients than the higher-stage patients., Conclusions: Tumor length proved to be an independent prognostic parameter for ESCC patients, especially for node-negative and lower-stage patients. More attention should be paid to its role in the management of ESCC.

Background: The human SLC25A13 gene encodes citrin, the liver-type mitochondrial aspartate/glutamate carrier isoform 2 (AGC2), and SLC25A13 mutations cause citrin deficiency (CD), a disease entity that encompasses different age-dependant clinical phenotypes such as Adult-onset Citrullinemia Type II (CTLN2) and Neonatal Intrahepatic Cholestasis caused by Citrin Deficiency (NICCD). The analyses of SLC25A13 gene and its protein/mRNA products remain reliable tools for the definitive diagnoses of CD patients, and so far, the SLC25A13 mutation spectrum in Chinese CD patients has not been well-characterized yet., Methods and Results: By means of direct DNA sequencing, cDNA cloning and SNP analyses, 16 novel pathogenic mutations, including 9 missense, 4 nonsense, 1 splice-site, 1 deletion and 1 large transposal insertion IVS4ins6kb (GenBank accession number KF425758), were identified in CTLN2 or NICCD patients from China, Japan and Malaysia, respectively, making the SLC25A13 variations worldwide reach the total number of 81. A large NICCD cohort of 116 Chinese cases was also established, and the 4 high-frequency mutations contributed a much larger proportion of the mutated alleles in the patients from south China than in those from the north (χ(2) = 14.93, P<0.01), with the latitude of 30°N as the geographic dividing line in mainland China., Conclusions: This paper further enriched the SLC25A13 variation spectrum worldwide, and formed a substantial contribution to the in-depth understanding of the genotypic feature of Chinese CD patients.

Citrin deficiency (CD) is an autosomal recessive disorder with SLC25A13 as causative gene that encodes citrin, the liver-type aspartate/glutamate carrier isoform 2 (AGC2). Neonatal intrahepatic cholestasis caused by citrin deficiency (NICCD), the major CD phenotype at pediatric age, has been previously reported as a self-limiting condition with clinical presentations resolving between 6 months and 1 year of life. We report the prenatal diagnosis of CD in a family with a fatal NICCD proband. The proband was a 10-month-old male presenting cough for 8 days and jaundiced skin 1 day. Physical examination revealed fever, dark jaundiced sclera and skin, hoarse breathing sounds, and hepatosplenomegaly. Laboratory tests uncovered elevated cholestatic indices, increased ammonia, and prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time and prothrombin time, and reduced fibrinogen. Sonography showed the features of liver cirrhosis. Metabolome analysis uncovered large quantity of 4-hydroxyphenyllactate and dicarboxylates in urine and increased citrulline and methionine in blood. The patient passed away due to liver failure at his age of 13.5 months. Mutation analysis revealed him a homozygote of 851del4, a four-base deletion in exon 9 of SLC25A13 gene. On request of the parents who had a second fetus, prenatal diagnosis of CD was performed by PCR-electrophoresis following amniocentesis and amniocyte culture, and demonstrated the fetus a carrier of the same mutation. The fatal proband in the present report has provided clinical evidence challenging the traditional concept on NICCD prognosis. Moreover, as the first trial on CD prenatal diagnosis, this study might open a novel area for clinical management of CD.

A study on the effect of weather condition on the aerosol scattering property has been carried out using one year measurement data sets of aerosol scattering coefficient (ASC) and meteorological parameters at Shangdianzi (SDZ). The results showed that the ASC was highest in haze-fog day with 608.4 Mm(-1) and higher in fog day with 500.6 Mm(-1) and haze day with 423.7 Mm (-1) those were 6.4-9.2 times higher than the ASC in normal day. The ASC was highest in summer in all kinds of weather conditions. The lower ASC in fog day and haze-fog day was observed in autumn and winter, respectively. There was no evident difference of the ASC between other three seasons in haze day and normal day. Pronounced seasonal variation of the mass scattering efficiency (MSE) of PM2.5 was observed in fog day with the highest value in summer. Significant diurnal variations in ASC were observed in haze-fog day and normal day with a unimodal pattern and a bimodal pattern, respectively. The wind was the most important factor for the ASC at SDZ. The transport of aerosol particles by the strong southwest wind should be responsible for the higher level of ASC in SDZ area and regional scale in low visibility weather conditions. The northeast wind was favourable to the reduction of ASC, especially in normal day.

By using reciprocal transplant method, Eupatorium adenophorum Spreng. seedlings of five different provenances were reciprocally transplanted into six different sites in Yunnan Province, with the survival rate, plant height, branch number, biomass, flower number per plant, and seed production measured during the period from April 2007 to May 2008. The seedlings growth and reproductive traits of different provenance E. adenophorum all showed strong plasticity to environmental conditions. With increasing latitude and altitude of transplant site, plant height, branch number, biomass, flower number per plant, and seed production of different provenance E. adenophorum decreased, and the differences in these growth and reproductive traits were significant among the transplant sites. However, there were no significant differences in these traits among different provenance E. adenophorum. Provenance and transplant site had no significant interactive effects on the above-mentioned traits except seed production. At each site, the survival rate, growth potential, and reproductive capability of local provenance E. adenophorum didn't have any superiority, illustrating that the success in the invasion of E. adenophorum in Yunnan Province was mainly due to the phenotypic plasticity of the plant, while local adaptability only played lesser important role.

Grate firing boilers are the main type of Chinese industrial boilers, which accounts for 85% of the industrial boilers and is one of the most important emission sources of primary air pollutants in China. In this study, five boilers in three cities were selected and tested to measure the emission characteristics of PM2.5, and gaseous pollutants were applied by a compact dilution sampling system, which was developed for this field study. Results showed that particles mass size distributions for the five industrial boilers presented single peak or double peak, former peaks near 0.14 microm and the later peaks after 1.0 microm; the cyclone dust remover and wet scrubber dust remover had effective removal efficiencies not only to PM2.5, but also to PM1.0; and under the condition of same control techniques, grate firing boiler with high capacity has less PM2.5 emission than the boiler with low capacity. In the PM2.5 collected from flue gases, SO4(2-) was the most abundant ion, accounted for 20%-40% of the PM2.5; and C was the most abundant element (7.5%-31.8%), followed by S (8.4%-18.7%). Carbon balance method was applied to calculate the emission factors of these pollutants. The emission factors of PM2.5, NO, and SO2 were in the range of 0.046-0.486 g x kg(-1), 1.63-2.47 g x kg(-1), 1.35-9.95 g x kg(-1) respectively. The results are useful for the emission inventory development of industrial boilers and the source analysis of PM2.5 in atmospheric environment.

We have analysed the reasons for the low reported incidence of prostate cancer in China and argue for early diagnosis and treatment of this disease. According to the 2002 database of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the age-standardized incidence of prostate cancer in China is 1.6/10(5) person years (PY), with a mortality rate of 1.0/10(5) PY and mortality-to-incidence rate ratio (MR/IR) = 0.63. The MR/IR ratio of prostate cancer in China was found to be higher than the average in Asia (MR/IR = 0.57) and much higher than that in North America (MR/IR = 0.13). These data indicate that in China most prostate cancers were in the advanced stages at the time of diagnosis, and that patients had a short survival time thereafter. In 2004, Stamey et al. reported a retrospective American study of prostate cancer for the years 1983-2003. It was shown that most cases of prostate cancer detected by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening were in the advanced stage at the start of this 20-year period. These early follow-up data are quite similar to the results obtained from mass PSA screening of elderly men in Changchun, China. However, after the American programmes for early diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer were accepted, tumours were diagnosed at earlier stages. On the basis of these findings, mass screening should be performed in the whole of China using serum PSA to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.

Aim: To investigate possible correlation factors for prostate cancer by a population-based case-control study in China., Methods: We carried out a mass screening of prostate cancer in Changchun, China, using a prostate-specific antigen assisted by Japan International Cooperation Agency. From June 1998 to December 2000, 3 940 men over 50 years old were screened. Of these, 29 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer. We selected 28 cases and matched them with controls of low prostate-specific antigen value (< 4.1 ng/mL) by 1:10 according to age and place of employment. A case-control study of diet and prostate cancer was then carried out., Results: After adjustment for education, body mass index (BMI), smoking, alcohol consumption, marriage and diet, intake of soybean product was discovered to be inversely related to prostate cancer. Men who consumed soybean product more than twice per week on different days had a multivariate odds ratio (OR) of 0.38 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.13-1.12). In addition, men who consumed soybean products more than once per day had a multivariate OR of 0.29 (95% CI, 0.11-0.79) compared with men who consumed soybean products less than once per week. The P for trend was 0.02, which showed significant difference. There was no significant difference in P trend for any dairy food. Even when we matched the cases and controls by other criteria, we found that soybean food was the only preventive factor associated with prostate cancer., Conclusion: Our study suggests that consumption of soybeans, one of the most popular foods in Asia, would decrease the risk of prostate cancer.

Objective: To make further improvement of outcome of patients with polytrauma and coma., Methods: The data of 3361 patients (2378 males and 983 females, aged from 5-95 years, 38.2 years on average) with severe polytrauma and coma admitted to Chongqing Emergency Medical Center (Level I Trauma Center), Chongqing, China, from November 1978 to December 2004 were analyzed retrospectively in this study., Results: The overall survival rate and mortality were 93.2% (3133/3361) and 6.8% (228/3361), respectively. The mortalities in patients with coma duration less than 1 hour and combined with neural dysfunction and in patients with coma duration larger than or equal to 1 hour and combined with or without neural dysfunction were significantly higher than that of those with coma duration less than 1 hour but without neural dysfunction [39.5% (136/344) vs 3.0% (92/3017), P less than 0.01]. There existed significant differences in GCS, ISS, and revised trauma score (RTS) between the death group and the survival group (P less than 0.01). RTS was in good correspondence with patient's pathophysiological status and outcome in patients with multiple trauma and coma for different groups of systolic blood pressure (SBP). The mortality in patients with SBP less than 90 mm Hg was significantly higher than that of those with SBP larger than or equal to 90 mm Hg [33.3% (68/204) vs 5.1% (160/3157), P less than 0.01]. The mortality in polytrauma patients combined with serious head injury (AIS larger than or equal to 3) was 8.2%, among which, 76.5% died from lung complications. The morbidity rate of lung complications and mortality rate increased in patients with head injury complicated with chest or abdomen injury (23.9%, 61.1% vs 27.3%, 50.0%). The mortality reached up to 61.9% in patients complicated with severe head, chest and abdomen injuries simultaneously., Conclusions: It plays a key role to establish a fast and effective trauma care system and prompt and definite surgical procedures and to strengthen the management of complications for improving the survival rate of patients with severe polytrauma and coma.

To achieve the goal of early detection, diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer in China, mass screening for prostate cancer using serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) has been performed in men over 50 years. We compared this result with the clinical cases. It proved that only through the mass screening can we really find the early stage prostate cancer and be given the chance of curing the cancer. We also investigated the current treatment situation and problems and figured out the further direction on the prostate cancer research.