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The glycopeptide A40926 biosynthesized by Nonomuraea gerenzanensis is a precursor of the second generation glycopeptide antibiotic dalbavancin. The skeleton of this glycopeptide consists of seven amino acids and is biosynthesized by the NRPS gene module. L-valine, a branched amino acid, is also a significant precursor for A40926 production. This study details the use of pH-responsive alginate–chitosan microspheres loaded with L-valine prepared by internal emulsification gelation. The effects of process and formulation variables on microsphere size, loading capacity, and encapsulation efficiency were investigated. Then, effects on A40926 production by the pH-responsive microspheres were evaluated in a 10-L fermenter. Results demonstrated that use of the pH-responsive microspheres could improve A40926 yield from 465 to 602 mg L−1 in a 10-L scale fermenter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis B breakthrough infection (HBBI) and its risk factors are rarely reported among adults in China. In 2009–2010 in three townships of China, hepatitis B vaccine (HepB) administration and anti-HBs detection after HepB were conducted among the residents aged 18–59 years. HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc were detected for these vaccinees in 2013. A total of 252 out of 4701 vaccinees turned to be positive for anti-HBc in 2013, but nobody was positive for HBsAg. The HBBI rate was 5.36% (95% CI 4.73, 6.04). The highest rate was found in age-group of 18–29 years (7.33%, 95% CI : 5.31, 9.82). The rate was significantly different by the residential townships ( P  < 0.001) and by the antibody response to HepB ( P  = 0.003). Multivariate analysis showed that anti-HBs response to HepB was the independent risk factor of HBBI. The study documents the association between hyporesponse to HepB and HBBI among adults. It also suggests more attention should be given to new HBV infection among young adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis E vaccine was available in China in 2012, but the priority population for immunization is not clear. In 2013, a hepatitis E outbreak occurred in a company of Shandong province, China where most employees moved from other provinces and dined at the company’s cafeteria. A total of fourteen (19%, 14/73) case-patients were identified, and three of them had symptomatic infection with one death. The proportion of symptomatic infection was much higher among those aged ⩾50 years than those aged <50 years (2/2 vs. 1/12, P = 0.03), and higher in males than females (3/8 vs. 0/6, P = 0.21). Food in the company’s cafeteria might be the possible source of the outbreak. The findings from this outbreak investigation indicate that individuals aged ⩾50 years, particularly males, might be the population of top priority for hepatitis E vaccination in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: It is generally accepted that different high-density lipoprotein (HDL) subclasses have distinct but interrelated metabolic functions. HDL is known to directly influence the atherogenic process and changes in HDL subclasses distribution may be related to the incidence and prevalence of atherosclerosis. Methods: Apo-AI contents(mg/l) of plasma HDL subclasses were determined by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis coupled with immunodetection for apo-AI. Four hundred forty-two Chinese adults subjects aged 33 to 78 years were assigned to different groups according to the third Report of NCEP (ATP III) guidelines. The subjects were first divided into 2 groups, normal and high TG, then further classified by plasma TC, HDL-C and LDL-C concentrations. The subjects were also divided into TC desirable and TC high groups. Results: Apo-A contents of preβ1-HDL were higher while HDL2b were lower in high TG subjects vs. the corresponding normal TG subjects according to plasma TC and LDL-C concentrations. With the increase of plasma TC concentrations, apo-AI contents of preβ1-HDL were significantly higher in high TC subgroup vs. TC desirable subgroup in normal TG subjects. With the decrease of HDL-C concentrations, apo-AI contents of HDL2b tended to decrease in normal TG subjects. And, with the increases of LDL-C concentration, in normal TG subjects, apo-AI contents of preβ1-HDL and HDL3b were significantly higher and those of HDL2b were significantly lower in very high LDL-C subgroup vs. LDL-C optimal subgroup. On the other hand, apo-AI contents of preβ1-HDL and HDL3a were significantly higher, while HDL2a and HDL2b were significantly lower in high TG and very high TG subgroup vs. normal TG subgroup within either TC desirable or TC high subjects. In a multivariate linear regression model, TG and TC concentrations were all associated independently and positively with high preβ1-HDL; however, HDL-C were inversely associated with high preβ1-HDL. And TG and TC concentrations were all associated independently and negetively with low HDL2b, but HDL-C and apo-AI were positively associated with low HDL2b. Conclusions: With the increase of plasma TG, TC, LDL-C or the decrease of plasma HDL-C concentrations, there was a general shift toward smaller-sized HDL, which, in turn, indicates that reverse cholesterol transport might be weakened and HDL maturation might be abnormal. Plasma TG concentration is a more important factor than TC concentration on the changes of HDL subclass distribution. Moreover, when TG is normal and HDL-C decreased, large-size HDL particles tended to decrease. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A novel fowl adenovirus 4 (FAdV-4) has caused significant economic losses to the poultry industry in China since 2015. We established an easy-to-use reverse genetics system for modification of the whole right and partial left ends of the novel FAdV-4 genome, which worked through cell-free reactions of restriction digestion and Gibson assembly. Three recombinant viruses were constructed to test the assumption that species-specific viral genes of ORF4 and ORF19A might be responsible for the enhanced virulence: viral genes of ORF1, ORF1b and ORF2 were replaced with GFP to generate FAdV4-GFP, ORF4 was replaced with mCherry in FAdV4-GFP to generate FAdV4-GX4C, and ORF19A was deleted in FAdV4-GFP to generate FAdV4-CX19A. Deletion of ORF4 made FAdV4-GX4C form smaller plaques while ORF19A deletion made FAdV4-CX19A form larger ones on chicken LMH cells. Coding sequence (CDS) replacement with reporter mCherry demonstrated that ORF4 had a weak promoter. Survival analysis showed that FAdV4-CX19A-infected chicken embryos survived one more day than FAdV4-GFP- or FAdV4-GX4C-infected ones. The results illustrated that ORF4 and ORF19A were non-essential genes for FAdV-4 replication although deletion of either gene influenced virus growth. This work would help function study of genes on the right end of FAdV-4 genome and facilitate development of attenuated vaccines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive economic losses have been caused by Hepatopancreas necrosis disease (HPND) to the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) culture industry; however, the actual cause and pathological mechanisms is unknown. In this study, hepatopancreatic and intestinal cells of the diseased crabs showed distinctive pathological changes which were characteristic of autophagy and apoptosis, but no pathogens were observed. To understand the molecular pathogenesis, a transcriptomic analysis was conducted; approximately 21,523 (26,224) unigenes had COG (KEGG) annotations. The analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with fold changes >2 and P < 0.05 between diseased crabs with mild symptoms (XHAF-1) and diseased crabs with severe symptoms (XHAF-2), and crabs without visible symptoms (XHAF-CK) in hepatopancreas showed that DEGs increased with the degree of hepatopancreatic necrosis. The DEGs of XHAF-1 vs XHAF-CK (XHAF-2 vs XHAF-CK) were enriched into 1191 (1366) gene ontology (GO) terms, including the positive regulation of phagocytosis, autophagic vacuole assembly and negative regulation of glial cell apoptotic processes. The DEGs of XHAF-1 vs XHAF-CK (XHAF-2 vs XHAF-CK) were enriched into 32 (45) KEGG pathways including autophagy and the p53 signaling pathway. Furthermore, the expression levels of genes related to autophagy and apoptosis were altered in diseased crabs, suggesting that HPND may be the result of autophagy and apoptosis. Moreover, expression of genes related to retinol metabolism disregulated, implying that the hepatopancreas of crabs with HPND turn from golden yellow/light yellow to almost white were associated with retinol metabolism dysregulation. These findings provide new clues in understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of HPND. • Pathological changes of crabs with HPND showed characteristic of autophagy and apoptosis. • Autophagy- and apoptosis-related gene expression dysregulated in the crabs with HPND. • Crab HPND may be the result of autophagy and apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The promoter gapdh showed the strongest activity among the six heterogeneous promoters in N. gerenzanensis. • The genes dbv3 , dbv4 and dbv20 were able to improve the A40926 production significantly. • The recombinant N. gerenzanensis N320 increased the A40926 yield from163 mg/L to 272 mg/L. The semi-synthetic antibiotic dalbavancin is clinically used in the treatment of severe infections caused by multidrug resistant Gram-positive pathogens. So far, fermentation has still been the only approach for the production of A40926 in the industrial scale, which is used as the precursor of dalbavancin and biosynthesized by the rare actinomycete Nonomuraea gerenzanensis (N. gerenzanensis). Therefore, it is particularly essential and necessary to enhance the yield of A40926 continually. In this paper, we firstly assessed the activity of 6 heterologous promoters using the enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) reporter system in N. gerenzanensis. Furthermore, the strongest constitutive promoter gapdh confirmed in this study was applied to separately overexpress the total of ten dbv genes involved in the A40926 biosynthesis. PCR and RT-qPCR were successively carried out to verify the mutant and the overexpression of dbv genes. As a consequence, the overexpression of dbv3 and dbv20 genes both increased the A40926 production remarkably. Based on the above consequences, a mutant strain named N320 laboring the co-expression of dbv3 and dbv20 was constructed. The results of fermentation showed that the N320 strain enhanced the yield of A40926 from 163 mg/L to 272 mg/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Easy-to-use approaches are lacking for site-directed modification of adenovector (Ad). • Construct an intermediate plasmid for site-directed mutagenesis by DNA assembly. • Restore modified intermediate plasmid to adenoviral plasmid by restriction-ligation. • Combined DNA assembly and restriction-ligation can be used for Ad modification. Commonly used and well accepted approaches are lacking for site-directed modification of adenoviral vectors. Here, we attempt to introduce an easy-to-implement strategy for such purpose with an example of establishing a replication competent adenoviral vector system from pKAd5 plasmid, an infectious clone of human adenovirus 5 (HAdV-5). PCR products of GFP expression cassette and plasmid backbone were fused with the EcoRI/NdeI-digested fragment of pKAd5 to generate a modified intermediate plasmid pMDXE3GA by DNA assembly. NdeI-digested fragment of pMDXE3GA was brought back to pKAd5 to form the adenoviral plasmid pKAd5XE3GA by restriction-ligation cloning. Recombinant adenovirus HAdV5-XE3GA was rescued, amplified and purified. The expression of GFP and the propagation of virus in adherent HEp-2 and suspension K562 cells were investigated. Expression of target gene was significantly enhanced in both cell lines infected with HAdV5-XE3GA due to virus replication. However, propagation of virus could not sustain in culture of K562 cells. Shuttle plasmid pSh5RC-GFP was constructed to facilitate exchange of transgene. In summary, the strategy of combined DNA assembly and restriction-ligation cloning is functional, cost-effective and suitable for genetic modification of adenovirus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diet is known to play a major role in determining the composition and function of the gut microbiota. Previous studies have often focused on the immediate effects of dietary intervention. How dietary history prior to a given dietary intervention influences the gut microbiota is, however, not well understood. To assess the influence of dietary history, in this study, mice with different dietary histories were subjected to the same dietary interventions, and the gut microbial communities of these mice were characterized by 16S rDNA sequencing. We found that dietary history played a long-lasting role in the composition of the gut microbiota when the dietary switch was moderate. In sharp contrast, such effects nearly vanished when the diet was switched to certain extreme dietary conditions. Interestingly, the abundance of Akkermansia, a bacterial genus associated with loss of body weight, was elevated dramatically in mice subjected to a diet composed exclusively of meat. Our results revealed a more complex picture of the influence of dietary history on gut microbiota than anticipated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Infectious diseases are a major threat to public health, causing serious medical consumption and casualties. Accurate prediction of infectious diseases incidence is of great significance for public health organizations to prevent the spread of diseases. However, only using historical incidence data for prediction can not get good results. This study analyzes the influence of meteorological factors on the incidence of hepatitis E, which are used to improve the accuracy of incidence prediction. Methods: We extracted the monthly meteorological data, incidence and cases number of hepatitis E from January 2005 to December 2017 in Shandong province, China. We employ GRA method to analyze the correlation between the incidence and meteorological factors. With these meteorological factors, we achieve a variety of methods for incidence of hepatitis E by LSTM and attention-based LSTM. We selected data from July 2015 to December 2017 to validate the models, and the rest was taken as training set. Three metrics were applied to compare the performance of models, including root mean square error(RMSE), mean absolute percentage error(MAPE) and mean absolute error(MAE). Results: Duration of sunshine and rainfall-related factors(total rainfall, maximum daily rainfall) are more relevant to the incidence of hepatitis E than other factors. Without meteorological factors, we obtained 20.74%, 19.50% for incidence in term of MAPE, by LSTM and A-LSTM, respectively. With meteorological factors, we obtained 14.74%, 12.91%, 13.21%, 16.83% for incidence, in term of MAPE, by LSTM-All, MA-LSTM-All, TA-LSTM-All, BiA-LSTM-All, respectively. The prediction accuracy increased by 7.83%. Without meteorological factors, we achieved 20.41%, 19.39% for cases in term of MAPE, by LSTM and A-LSTM, respectively. With meteorological factors, we achieved 14.20%, 12.49%, 12.72%, 15.73% for cases, in term of MAPE, by LSTM-All, MA-LSTM-All, TA-LSTM-All, BiA-LSTM-All, respectively. The prediction accuracy increased by 7.92%. More detailed results are shown in results section of this paper. Conclusions: The experiments show that attention-based LSTM is superior to other comparative models. Multivariate attention and temporal attention can greatly improve the prediction performance of the models. Among them, when all meteorological factors are used, multivariate attention performance is better. This study can provide reference for the prediction of other infectious diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurate and reliable predictions of infectious disease can be valuable to public health organizations that plan interventions to decrease or prevent disease transmission. A great variety of models have been developed for this task. However, for different data series, the performance of these models varies. Hepatitis E, as an acute liver disease, has been a major public health problem. Which model is more appropriate for predicting the incidence of hepatitis E? In this paper, three different methods are used and the performance of the three methods is compared. Methods: Autoregressive integrated moving average(ARIMA), support vector machine(SVM) and long short-term memory(LSTM) recurrent neural network were adopted and compared. ARIMA was implemented by python with the help of statsmodels. SVM was accomplished by matlab with libSVM library. LSTM was designed by ourselves with Keras, a deep learning library. To tackle the problem of overfitting caused by limited training samples, we adopted dropout and regularization strategies in our LSTM model. Experimental data were obtained from the monthly incidence and cases number of hepatitis E from January 2005 to December 2017 in Shandong province, China. We selected data from July 2015 to December 2017 to validate the models, and the rest was taken as training set. Three metrics were applied to compare the performance of models, including root mean square error(RMSE), mean absolute percentage error(MAPE) and mean absolute error(MAE). Results: By analyzing data, we took ARIMA(1, 1, 1), ARIMA(3, 1, 2) as monthly incidence prediction model and cases number prediction model, respectively. Cross-validation and grid search were used to optimize parameters of SVM. Penalty coefficient C and kernel function parameter g were set 8, 0.125 for incidence prediction, and 22, 0.01 for cases number prediction. LSTM has 4 nodes. Dropout and L2 regularization parameters were set 0.15, 0.001, respectively. By the metrics of RMSE, we obtained 0.022, 0.0204, 0.01 for incidence prediction, using ARIMA, SVM and LSTM. And we obtained 22.25, 20.0368, 11.75 for cases number prediction, using three models. For MAPE metrics, the results were 23.5%, 21.7%, 15.08%, and 23.6%, 21.44%, 13.6%, for incidence prediction and cases number prediction, respectively. For MAE metrics, the results were 0.018, 0.0167, 0.011 and 18.003, 16.5815, 9.984, for incidence prediction and cases number prediction, respectively. Conclusions: Comparing ARIMA, SVM and LSTM, we found that nonlinear models(SVM, LSTM) outperform linear models(ARIMA). LSTM obtained the best performance in all three metrics of RSME, MAPE, MAE. Hence, LSTM is the most suitable for predicting hepatitis E monthly incidence and cases number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) with regulatory potency activity was identified from varieties of species. Crucian carp (Carassius auratus gibelio) is one of the most freshwater aquaculture species in China. Every year, huge economic damage to the farming was caused by the virus and bacterial infection. Until now, there is any information about circRNA reported from the Crucian carp. In this study, the expression pattern of circRNA in Crucian carp was investigated with transcriptomic analysis. The results showed that only 37 circRNAs were identified from the Crucian carp, and these circRNAs biogenesis was formed with canonical GU-AG splicing mechanism with unevenly distributed on the chromosomes. Wherein, most of the circRNAs were derived from the sense overlapping strategy. Reverse transcript PCR and Sanger sequencing data indicated that these circRNAs were existed authenticity in Crucian carp. The bioinformatics analysis indicated that circRNAs identified from the Crucian carp with potential miRNA sponge regulate the expression level of mRNAs. GO annotation and KEGG pathway analysis of these circRNAs showed that more than 20% circRNAs were related with catalytic activity and binding in the category of molecular function, and these circRNAs were enriched in 9 signaling pathways, such as, Wnt signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, Ubiquitin mediated proteolysis et al. 220 mRNAs would be regulated by the circRNAs via miRNAs mediation. These target mRNAs were further analyzed with functional annotation and KEGG analysis. GO annotation analysis showed that several genes were related with function of nucleotide binding, transcription regulatory activity. KEGG pathway analysis showed that 5 genes were enriched in the pathway of Endocytosis. The circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulation network indicated that one miRNA can link one or more circRNA and one or more mRNA. Overall, these results will not only help us to further understand the novel RNA transcripts in Crucian carp, but also provide the novel clue to investigate the interaction between host and pathogens from this novel circRNA molecule. • CircRNAs were identified from the Crucian carp with transcriptomic analysis. • CircRNAs biogenesis was formed with canonical GT/AG splicing mechanism. • Most of the circRNAs were derived from the sense overlapping strategy. • These circRNAs were enriched in 9 signaling pathways. • The circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulation network was constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic wounds are slow to recover. During treatment, the dressing needs to be removed to check the recovery status, a process that often results in wound tears. Traditional dressings lack stretching and flexing properties and are not suitable using on wounds in joints, which require movement from time to time. In this study, we present a stretchable, flexible and breathable bandage consisting of three layers, including Mxene coating on the top, the polylactic acid/polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PLA/PVP) layer designed as Kirigami in the middle, and the f-sensor at the bottom. By the way, the f-sensor is in contact with the wound sensing real-time microenvironmental changes due to infection. When the infection intensifies, the Mxene coating at the top is utilized to enable anti-infection treatment. And Kirigami structure of PLA/PVP ensures that this bandage has stretchability, bendability, and breathability. The stretch of the smart bandage increases to 831 % compared to the original structure, and the modulus reduces to 0.04 %, which adapts extremely well to the movement of the joints and relieves the pressure on the wound. This monitoring-treatment closed-loop working mode, eliminating the need to remove dressings and avoid tissue tearing, shows a promising capability in the field of surgical wound care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatitis B vaccine is an effective measure to prevent hepatitis B virus infection. Whether chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection decreases humoral and cell-mediated immunity responses to hepatitis B vaccination is still controversial.Methods: Patients with chronic HCV infection who were not in treatment and healthy controls, matched at a 1:2 ratio for community, sex, and age (within 5 years), were identified from a community-based screening. All participants received 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine. Antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen was tested 1 month after the third vaccine dose and was compared between 2 groups. Spot-forming cells (SFCs) of interferon γ and interleukin 2, 4, 5, and 6 were counted by means of enzyme-linked immunospot, and SFC counts were compared between the 2 groups.Results: The rates of nonresponse and low, normal, and high response were 3.80%, 10.13%, 45.57%, and 40.50% respectively, in the HCV group, and the corresponding rates in the healthy control group were 1.26%, 10.13%, 39.24%, and 49.37% (all P > .05). There were no significant differences in SFC counts between the 2 groups for interferon γ or interleukin 2, 4, or 5 (all P > .05).Conclusions: This study provided preliminary evidence of the good immunogenicity and safety of hepatitis B vaccination among patients in China with chronic hepatitis C who are not in treatment.Clinical Trials Registration: NCT 02898922. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Tremendous progress has been made in hepatitis B virus (HBV) prevention and control in the last 30 years in China, but it continues to be a major public health problem. The most recently reported population-based seroepidemiological survey on HBV in Shandong Province in China was published in 2006, and an updated baseline for HBV prevalence was badly needed in the province to identify the change in HBV epidemiology in the last decade. Methods Two population-based cross-sectional serosurveys were performed among the population aged 1–59 years in the same sample areas in Shandong Province, China in 2006 and 2014, respectively. Data on demographic characteristics were collected. A blood sample was obtained from each person and was tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibody against HBsAg (anti-HBs), and antibody against hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc). Results Overall, the prevalence rates of HBsAg, anti-HBs, and anti-HBc were 3.39% (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.51–4.26), 44.96% (95% CI 41.34–48.57), and 24.45% (95% CI 22.19–26.71), respectively, among the population aged 1–59 years in the 2006 serovsurvey; the corresponding prevalence rates were 2.49% (95% CI 1.81–3.17), 48.27% (95% CI 45.63–50.92), and 22.56% (95% CI 20.14–24.97), respectively, in 2014. The prevalence rates of HBsAg and anti-HBc were lower in 2014 than in 2006. Conversely, the prevalence of anti-HBs showed an increase. However, none of these differences were statistically significant (all p > 0.05). The prevalence of HBsAg showed an increase among persons aged 20–24 years in 2014 (3.83%) compared with 2006 (2.98%) ( t = 0.45, p = 0.67). Among all occupation groups, the prevalence of HBsAg was lower in 2014 than in 2006, while the prevalence of anti-HBc showed moderate increases in students and farmers (all p > 0.05). The prevalence of HBsAg decreased more obviously in urban areas (65.49%) than rural areas (7.07%) from 2006 to 2014. Conclusions The epidemiology of HBV infection has changed in Shandong Province, China over the last decade. More attention should be paid to HBV infection among students and farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Unidirectional thermal conductivity improves heat distribution. • Comsol simulations explain the improved heat distribution. • Eliminate postoperative residual cancer cells reducing tumor recurrence. • Effectively kills drug-resistant bacteria promoting wound healing. Skin cancer is usually treated by surgical excision in the clinic. However, the unavoidable residual cancer cells and possible wound infection lead to a high tumor recurrence rate and slow wound recovery. Existing photothermal film materials tend to have a higher heat distribution on the upper surface than on the lower surface. This leads to low temperature on the lower surface attached to the skin that cannot produce effective photothermal effects. Herein, we designed a micro-nano effect combining Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene and fibers, which produces a similar lens effect to regulate the heat generated on the upper surface transmitting to the lower surface of the fiber membrane. Due to its asymmetric and unidirectional thermal conductivity having been significantly promoted, the fiber membrane exhibits effective ablating residual cancer cells after surgical excision attached to the wound as a dressing, and thus effectively inhibits tumor growth. In addition, this thermal management fiber membrane also exhibits an excellent bactericidal effect, accelerating post-surgical wound healing without losing the property of preventing post-surgical tumor recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To evaluate the effect of the universal infant hepatitis B vaccination program on hepatitis B infection in China. Methods: In 2006, a survey was conducted in Shandong Province, China, among children aged 1–14 years, 15 years after the introduction of universal infant hepatitis B vaccination. The subjects were selected by stratified, multi-stage sampling. Vaccination history was obtained by immunization certificate (when available) or parent recall. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibodies to HBsAg (anti-HBs) and core antigen (anti-HBc) were detected by ELISA. Hepatitis B infection was defined as the presence of HBsAg and/or anti-HBc. The prevalence rates of HBsAg, anti-HBs and hepatitis B infection obtained in this survey were compared with the results of a survey conducted in 1992 (prior to universal vaccination). Results: A total of 3738 children aged 1–14 years were included in the final analysis. A vaccination coverage rate of 93% was achieved in 2006. The prevalence rates of HBsAg and hepatitis B infection decreased from 8% and 46% in the 1992 survey to 1% and 4%, respectively, in the 2006 survey. Conclusions: Universal hepatitis B vaccination in infants can result in a 90.47% reduction in hepatitis B infection in children aged 1–14 years. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Simple Summary: The cause of Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis hepatopancreas necrosis disease (HPND) remains a mystery. In this study, metatranscriptomics sequencing was conducted to characterize the changes in the structure and gene expression of hepatopancreatic flora of crabs with and without typical symptoms of HPND; an imbalance of hepatopancreatic flora can be found in the crab with HPND, and the detected microbial taxa decreased, whereas the prevalence of Spiroplasma eriocheiris significantly increased in the hepatopancreatic flora of crabs with typical symptoms of HPND, and the relative abundances of the virus and microsporidia in crabs with HPND were very low and did not increase with disease progression. The differentially-expressed genes (DEGs) in hepatopancreatic flora between crabs with and without HPND were enriched ribosome, retinol metabolism, and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acid KEGG pathways. These results suggested that an imbalance of hepatopancreatic flora was associated with crab HPND, and the enriched pathways of DEGs were associated with the pathological mechanism of HPND. Hepatopancreas necrosis disease (HPND) of the Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis causes huge economic loss in China. However, the pathogenic factors and pathogenesis are still a matter of dissension. To search for potential pathogens, the hepatopancreatic flora of diseased crabs with mild symptoms, diseased crabs with severe symptoms, and crabs without visible symptoms were investigated using metatranscriptomics sequencing. The prevalence of Absidia glauca and Candidatus Synechococcus spongiarum decreased, whereas the prevalence of Spiroplasma eriocheiris increased in the hepatopancreatic flora of crabs with HPND. Homologous sequences of 34 viral species and 4 Microsporidian species were found in the crab hepatopancreas without any significant differences between crabs with and without HPND. Moreover, DEGs in the hepatopancreatic flora between crabs with severe symptoms and without visible symptoms were enriched in the ribosome, retinol metabolism, metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450, drug metabolism—cytochrome P450, biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, and other glycan degradation. Moreover, the relative abundance of functions of DEDs in the hepatopancreatic flora changed with the pathogenesis process. These results suggested that imbalance of hepatopancreatic flora was associated with crab HPND. The identified DEGs were perhaps involved in the pathological mechanism of HPND; nonetheless, HPND did not occur due to virus or microsporidia infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are novel, single-stranded, non-coding RNAs that play important roles in many biological processes. CircRNAs have not only been identified in eukaryotes, they have also been identified in some DNA viruses. Grass carp reovirus (GCRV) is a dsRNA virus; the genome of this virus contains 11 segmented dsRNAs. Infection of grass carp with GCRV leads to haemorrhagic disease, one of the most serious diseases in the grass carp aquaculture industry. To investigate the expression of circRNAs in this dsRNA virus, and their potential role in viral infection, we performed transcriptome analysis of GCRV-infected Ctenopharyngodon idellus kidney (CIK) cells. In total, 32 GCRV-derived circRNAs (vcircRNAs) were identified using a back-splicing strategy. Thirty-one vcircRNAs were derived from antisense strands of dsRNA segments; only one vcircRNA was derived from the sense strand. Our analysis predicted that some vcircRNAs, with the same 5′ terminal and variable 3′ terminal regions, were generated via alternative splicing events. The expression levels of vcircRNAs increased in CIK cells following GCRV infection. Competing endogenous RNA analysis further showed that the effects of vcircRNAs on host or viral genes may act via miRNAs. Furthermore, some vcircRNAs, that were transfected into cells via in vitro syntheses, caused a significant increase in cell apoptosis when compared with linear sequences of vcircRNAs or circRNA-GFP (as controls). Finally, we found that the expression levels of GCRV genes in CIK cells were significantly suppressed following the transfection of vcircRNAs. Collectively, our findings indicate that vcircRNAs are a novel form of viral transcript that are expressed in virus-infected cells. Our data also indicate that vcircRNAs may sequester the functions of host miRNAs or viral miRNAs in order to regulate genes in the host or virus to inhibit viral infection. • Circular RNAs (viral circRNAs, vcircRNAs) were encoded by the genome of Grass carp reovirus (GCRV), a dsRNA virus. • Thirty-one vcircRNAs were derived from antisense strands and only one from a sense strand of dsRNA segments. • Some vcircRNAs were predicted to be generated by alternative splicing events. • vcircRNAs with activity and the roles played by vcircRNAs on host or viral genes may be through miRNAs. • The replication of GCRV was significantly suppressed by vcircRNAs transfected into cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small non-coding RNAs that are post-transcriptional regulators. They not only play vital roles in a variety of biological processes, but also regulate the process of viral infection. Cyprinid herpesvirus 2 (CyHV-2), a pathogen of Gibel carp (Carassius gibelio), can induce herpesviral hematopoietic necrosis disease, causing great economic losses to the aquaculture industry. To date, no effective antiviral measures to control CyHV-2 infection have been developed, and the pathogenesis of CyHV-2 is still vague. Here, the miRNA expression pattern was investigated in uninfected and CyHV-2-infected Carassius gibelio using small RNA sequencing. A total of 503 (209 novel) and 525 (219 novel) miRNAs were identified from the uninfected and infected groups, respectively. When compared with the uninfected group, 92 miRNAs were significantly differentially expressed, among which, 66 and 26 miRNAs were upregulated and downregulated, respectively, following viral infection. Analysis of target genes of these differentially expressed miRNAs found that the targeted mRNAs were involved in immunity, carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, and were enriched in the MAPK, calcium, and GnRH signaling pathways. These results indicated that CyHV-2 infection not only affects the immunity pathways, but also causes imbalance of carbohydrate and amino acid basic metabolism. Taken together, the findings of this study provide novel information for deeply investigation of miRNA regulatory mechanism during host-virus interaction in Carassius gibelio. • 503 (209 novel) and 525 (219 novel) miRNAs were found from the uninfected and infected groups. • 92 differentially expressed miRNAs were found from CyHV-2 uninfected and infected groups. • The targeted mRNAs were involved in immunity, carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism. • The targeted mRNAs were enriched in the MAPK, calcium, and GnRH signaling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carassius auratus gibelio , in the family Cyprinidae, is one of the most popular freshwater aquaculture species in China. The infection of domestic cyprinid species by Cyprinid herpesvirus 2 (CyHV-2) causes herpesvirus hematopoietic necrosis (HVHN). Until now, the pathogenic mechanism of CyHV-2 has been unclear. In this study, we used RNA sequencing to investigate the gene expression patterns in C. auratus gibelio after CyHV-2 infection. We identified 163,365 unigenes with de novo transcriptome sequencing using the Trinity and TGICL software. In total, 8011 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the CyHV-2-infected fish vs healthy fish, 4170 of which were upregulated and 3841 downregulated. A Gene Ontology (GO) analysis showed that most of the DEGs functioned in the cellular hyperosmotic response, inflammatory response, creatine: sodium symporter activity, voltage-gated potassium channel complex, complement activation, and oxygen binding categories. A Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that the top five KEGG pathways enriched in upregulated genes were neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, pyrimidine metabolism, IL-17 signaling pathway, glutathione metabolism, and arginine biosynthesis. The top five KEGG pathways enriched in downregulated unigenes were cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction, complement and coagulation cascades, Staphylococcus aureus infection, drug metabolism, and glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism. The expression of five key immunity-related genes was confirmed with real-time PCR. Specifically, the genes encoding interleukin-11 and interleukin-13 receptor, which are involved in immunity, were significantly upregulated and downregulated in CyHV-2-infected fish, respectively. Our findings not only extend our understanding of the host's response to CyHV-2, but also clarify the molecular pathogenicity mechanisms involved. • We identified 163,365 unigenes from Carassius auratus gibelio with de novo transcriptome sequencing. • 8011 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the CyHV-2-infected fish vs healthy fish. • Most of the DEGs functioned in the cellular hyperosmotic response, inflammatory response. • KEGG analysis showed that the top five KEGG pathways enriched in DEGs were related with immunity pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study aimed at determining the circulation of Hepatitis E virus (HEV) strains among yellow cattle (Bos taurus) in Shandong Province, China. In the study, blood samples from yellow cattle of local breeds as well serum samples from domestic sheep, dogs and chickens were examined for total antibodies against HEV. The study indicated the occurrence of HEV infection in yellow cattle, suggesting their role as a reservoir of HEV.

Background: Persons with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection were reported to suffer severe disease after hepatitis E virus (HEV) superinfection, but the studies regarding HEV seroprevalence in this population were limited. A recent study in Vietnam found higher HEV seroprevalence among CHB patients compared with healthy controls.Methods: A community-based case-control study was conducted in two counties of Shandong province, China, where hepatitis E incidence was at the highest (Rushan) and lowest (Zhangqiu) in the province based on data from routine public health surveillance. Four townships were selected randomly from each county and all residents in these townships were tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Those tested positive for HBsAg (CHB group) and the 1:1 age and sex-matched HBsAg-negative residents (control group) were included. Anti-HEV IgM and IgG were tested and positive rates of IgG and IgM were compared between the CHB group and the control group.Results: In total, 2048 CHB participants and 2054 controls were included in the study. In the CHB group, HEV IgG seroprevalence was 9.16% (95% CI: 7.47-11.09) in Zhangqiue and 38.06% (95% CI: 35.07-41.19) in Rushan (P < 0.001); the corresponding rates of IgM were 0.1% (95% CI: 0.002-0.54) and 1.57% (95% CI: 0.90-2.53), respectively (P < 0.001). HEV IgG seroprevalence was similar between CHB group and the control group in both counties (P = 0.21, P = 0.47, respectively) and the same results were found for the positive rate of IgM (P = 0.103, P = 0.262, respectively). Multivariable analysis showed the status of HBsAg was not independently associated with the status of anti-HEV IgG in either Zhangqiu or Rushan [P = 0.187, OR = 1.23(95% CI: 0.90, 1.68); P = 0.609, OR = 1.05 (95% CI: 0.87, 1.26)].Conclusions: The seroprevalence of HEV varies greatly in different geographic areas, but the seroprevalence is similar between populations with and without CHB. CHB patients residing in high HEV endemic areas might be at higher risk for HBV-HEV superinfection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]