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Background: Talaromyces marneffei (T. marneffei) infection has been associated with adult-onset immunodeficiency due to anti-IFN-γ autoantibodies. We aimed to investigate the clinical features of non-HIV-infected patients with T. marneffei infection in southern China.Methods: Between January 2018 and September 2020, we enrolled patients with T. marneffei infection who were HIV-negative (group TM, n = 42), including anti-IFN-γ autoantibody-positive (group TMP, n = 22) and anti-IFN-γ autoantibody-negative (group TMN, n = 20) patients and healthy controls (group HC, n = 40). Anti-IFN-γ autoantibodies were detected by ELISA. Clinical characteristics and clinical laboratory parameters were recorded.Results: Compared with anti-IFN-γ autoantibody-negative patients with T. marneffei infection, anti-IFN-γ autoantibody-positive patients did not have underlying respiratory disease; more frequently exhibited dissemination of systemic infections with severe pleural effusion; had higher WBC counts, C-reactive protein levels, erythrocyte sedimentation rates, and neutrophil and CD8+ T cell counts; had lower hemoglobin levels; and were more likely to have other intracellular pathogen infections. Most of these patients had poor outcomes despite standardized antimicrobial therapy.Conclusion: T. marneffei-infected patients with higher anti-IFN-γ autoantibody titers have more severe disease and complex clinical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The P(CL-PDO)-PEG-(P(CL-PDO)(PECP) copolymer hydrogel is an attractive thermogelling material for practical applications due to the fast dissolution of the copolymer in water and good stability of the resultant sol solution that is beneficial for guest matter mixing. In this paper, the degradation properties and drug release behavior of the hydrogel loaded with various types of drugs were evaluated. The integrity of the PECP hydrogel could preserve for 2 weeks and became viscous liquid after degradation time of 21 weeks. With the degradation time, both the molecular weight and weight loss of the hydrogel decreased gradually. NMR analysis of the degraded products indicated that the chain breaking of the copolymer mainly occurred within the sequence structures of PDO-PDO or PDO-PCL, implying the acceleration effect of PDO unit to the degradation of hydrogel. Three distinct types of drugs including small molecular hydrophobic, small molecular hydrophilic and hydrophilic macromolecular drugs were loaded into the PECP hydrogel to evaluate their release profiles. The result showed that the releasing periods for macromolecular protein or hydrophobic drug were extended to more than one month. Since these two types of drugs are loaded within different regions of the hydrogel due to their different hydrophobic/hydrophilic nature, the PECP hydrogel is expected to develop injectable system loaded with a versatility of drugs or guest matter for synergetic effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a complete set of elastic, piezoelectric, and dielectric constants of high-quality tetragonal poled 0.92Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.08PbTiO3 single crystal grown by the modified flux method is determined using high-resolution Brillouin scattering. A comparison is made between the results obtained by a hybrid method combining ultrasonic and resonant techniques and the results obtained by the Brillouin scattering. The elastic, piezoelectric, and dielectric constants obtained by the two methods are similar. The Brillouin spectrum consists of one longitudinal and two transverse acoustic phonon modes, and the variations of the Brillouin shifts, the full widths at half maximum, and the scattering intensities of these modes with scattering angle θ are investigated. In particular, the transverse acoustic phonon mode at the low-frequency becomes markedly soft from 28.2 GHz to 18.4 GHz and broadens gradually with the increase of θ, while its intensity decreases gradually as compared with that of the original one. The possible origins of the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]