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ObjectiveTo investigate the contamination status of Staphylococcus aureus in food and the presence of enterotoxin genes in Jiading District, Shanghai, and to provide a basis for the prevention and treatment of foodborne Staphylococcus aureus disease.MethodsFrom 2021 to 2023, 15 types of food were sampled for S. aureus testing, and the presence of five enterotoxin genes, including sea⁃see, was tested in the strains.ResultsOut of 705 food samples, 88 (12.48%) were positive for S. aureus. S. aureus was detected in 12 of the 15 food types, with the three food types with the highest positive rates being cold noodles (45.00%), raw poultry (26.25%), and vegetable salads (20.00%). The enterotoxin gene carriage rate was 32.95% in food strains. The carriage rates for sea, seb, and sec were 7.95%, 12.50%, and 14.77%, respectively. Neither sed nor see was detected. The detection rate of strains carrying two types of enterotoxin genes was 2.27%. The enterotoxin carriage rates in strains from vegetables, beverages, and raw meat were 57.14%, 40.00%, and 30.00%, respectively.ConclusionThe S. aureus detection rate in food in Jiading District is much higher than the national average. The enterotoxin gene carriage rates are high, with food strains carrying sea, seb, and sec, with sec being the most prevalent. There is a need to enhance monitoring of S. aureus and enterotoxins, especially in high-risk foods such as noodles, vegetables, and non-packaged beverages.

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of abnormal prothrombin (des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin, DCP), Golgi protein 73 (GP73) and α-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (α-HBDH) in the patients with alpha-fetoprotein（AFP）-negative primary hepatocellular carcinoma (PHCC). Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection treated in Second Hospital of Nanjing from January 2021 to December 2022, including 88 PHCC patients with negative AFP (PHCC group), 84 patients with hepatitis cirrhosis (cirrhosis group) and 75 patients with chronic hepatitis B (hepatitis group). At the same time, 67 healthy persons were served as control group. The serum DCP, GP73 and α-HBDH levels were detected and compared among these groups to assess the diagnostic efficacy of the three indicators (alone or in combination) for AFP-negative PHCC by drawing receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results The levels of DCP, GP73 and α-HBDH in PHCC group were significantly higher than those in cirrhosis group, hepatitis group and control group (P＜0.05), respectively. In the diagnosis of AFP-negative PHCC, the area under ROC (AUC) of combined detection of DCP, GP73 and α-HBDHwas 0.889, which was higher than that of DCP (0.804), GP73 (0.748) and α-HBDH (0.800) individually, and there were significant differences (Z =3.087, 3.350, 3.042, P＜0.01). The sensitivity (92.04%), specificity (96.03%) and accuracy (91.09%) of combined detection were the highest, followed by those of alone DCP (56.82%, 91.82%, 79.35%, respectively). Conclusion DCP, GP73 and α-HBDH have certain value in diagnosing AFP-negative PHCC, and the combined detection is helpful to improve the diagnostic efficiency.

This paper characterised the potential of energy flexibility in relation to building envelop properties, heat emitters and ventilation for the Swedish context. Simulation results indicated that the potential was higher for newer houses with floor heating and lower for older houses with radiators in winter. Older houses with different levels of insulation showed a similar ability of conserving heat due to different extents of heat losses from ventilation. A house with balanced ventilation tended to be over-ventilated especially if the house was not airtight. The flexibility was decreased with increasing outdoor temperatures, and it was higher in winter and lower in spring/autumn.

Abstract Background Guizhou is located in the southwest of China with high multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) epidemic. To fight this disease, Guizhou provincial authorities have made efforts to establish MDR-TB service system and perform the strategies for active case finding since 2014. The expanded case finding starting from 2019 and COVID-19 pandemic may affect the cases distribution. Thus, this study aims to analyze MDR-TB epidemic status from 2014 to 2020 for the first time in Guizhou in order to guide control strategies. Methods Data of notified MDR-TB cases were extracted from the National TB Surveillance System correspond to population information for each county of Guizhou from 2014 to 2020. The percentage change was calculated to quantify the change of cases from 2014 to 2020. Time trend and seasonality of case series were analyzed by a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model. Spatial–temporal distribution at county-level was explored by spatial autocorrelation analysis and spatial–temporal scan statistic. Results Guizhou has 9 prefectures and 88 counties. In this study, 1,666 notified MDR-TB cases were included from 2014–2020. The number of cases increased yearly. Between 2014 and 2019, the percentage increase ranged from 6.7 to 21.0%. From 2019 to 2020, the percentage increase was 62.1%. The seasonal trend illustrated that most cases were observed during the autumn with the trough in February. Only in 2020, a peak admission was observed in June. This may be caused by COVID-19 pandemic restrictions being lifted until May 2020. The spatial–temporal heterogeneity revealed that over the years, most MDR-TB cases stably aggregated over four prefectures in the northwest, covering Bijie, Guiyang, Liupanshui and Zunyi. Three prefectures (Anshun, Tongren and Qiandongnan) only exhibited case clusters in 2020. Conclusion This study identified the upward trend with seasonality and spatial−temporal clusters of MDR-TB cases in Guizhou from 2014 to 2020. The fast rising of cases and different distribution from the past in 2020 were affected by the expanded case finding from 2019 and COVID-19. The results suggest that control efforts should target at high-risk periods and areas by prioritizing resources allocation to increase cases detection capacity and better access to treatment.

In order to save on test costs, the optimal truncated sequential test (OTST) for the parameter of the exponential distribution is studied. According to Bayes decision theory, dynamic programming methods and procedures are established to solve the OTST. Through comparison with the test plans provided by international standard IEC 61124 and Russian national standard GOST R 27.402, the results show that the OTSTs solved by our new method can control the error probabilities strictly and save more synthetical expected test time (SETT). The OTSTs are also compared with the near-optimal ones solved by the sample space sorting method (SSSM). The results show that the test plans solved by these two methods are almost consistent. However, our new method is much faster in computation, especially when the maximum sample size (MSS) of a truncated sequential test increases. It can save 74.23% of the computational time compared with SSSM when the MSS equals 15. At last, the MSS of OTST is optimized. By optimizing the MSS, the corresponding OTST can save about 5% of the SETT compared to the one with the minimum MSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]