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Research on oral health-related quality of life plays an important role in not only clinical practice but also public health decision-making. This paper reviewed studies on current status and influencing factors of oral health-related quality of life in adolescents, and provided reference for improve of oral healthcare and health-related quality in in adolescents. (口腔健康相关生活质量不仅对临床实践有重要意义, 而且对公共卫生工作的方针、政策的制定也有重要参考价值。本研究就青少年口腔健康相关生活质量现状以及影响因素进行综述, 旨在为提高青少年口腔健康相关生活质量提供理论依据。)

With populations aging rapidly due to declining fertility rates and increasing life expectancy, oral health has been a neglected aspect of global health, and older people are representative of vulnerable groups heavily affected by oral diseases. This study describes the aging situation faced by China, the oral health status of the elderly, the necessity of maintaining oral health of the elderly and the connection between oral health and general health of the elderly. It systematically summarizes the oral health countermeasures taken by domestic and foreign countries in the face of population aging, and provides theoretical references for effective nursing measures for the oral health of the elderly in the future. (全球人口老龄化趋势加重, 老年人群是受口腔疾病严重影响的弱势群体的代表。本研究阐述了我国目前老年人群的口腔健康状况, 维护老年人口腔健康的必要性以及老年人的口腔健康和一般健康的联系, 系统概括了国内外面对人口老龄化所采取的口腔健康措施, 以期为建立完善的老年人口腔健康护理措施提供理论参考。)

Enterocytozoon bieneusi is the most common microsporidian species in humans and can affect over 200 animal species. Considering possible increasing risk of human E. bieneusi infection due to close contact with pet dogs and identification of zoonotic E. bieneusi genotypes, 589 fresh fecal specimens of pet dogs were collected from Yunnan Province, China to determine the occurrence of E. bieneusi, characterize dog-derived E. bieneusi isolates, and assess their zoonotic potential at the genotype level. Enterocytozoon bieneusi was identified and genotyped by PCR and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. Twenty-nine specimens (4.9%) were positive. A statistical difference was observed in occurrence rates of E. bieneusi in pet dogs among 11 sampling sites by Fisher’s exact test. Fifteen genotypes were identified and all of them phylogenetically belonged to zoonotic group 1, including four known genotypes (EbpC, D, Peru 8, and Henan-III) and 11 novel genotypes. Genotype Henan-III was reported in dogs for the first time. The finding of known genotypes found previously in humans and novel genotypes falling into zoonotic group 1 indicates that dogs may play a role in the transmission of E. bieneusi to humans in the investigated areas.

In order to achieve a kind of composite material with both wave absorbing property and certain mechanical load bearing function, the metamaterial absorbers and sandwich composite were combined. By simulation, the metamaterial absorbers satisfying dual-band and broadband electromagnetic wave absorption were designed, and the wave absorbing performances were characterized. The aforementioned metamaterial absorbers were then integrated into the sandwich composite, in which the glass fiber/epoxy composite was used as the top layer, the PMI foam was used as the core layer, and the carbon fiber/epoxy composite was used as the bottom layer. The measured electromagnetic wave absorbing performance of the final sandwich composites shows that the dual-band composite has the absorptivity of 94.13% and 99.99% at the frequency of 8.65 GHz and 10.30 GHz respectively，while the broadband composite has the absorptivity of 90.02%-99.91% at 8.25-11.61 GHz frequency range. The bending test results exhibit that the dual-band composite has the bending strength and modulus of 68.81 MPa and 7.72 GPa， and the broadband composite has the bending strength of 145.76 MPa and modulus of 9.13 GPa. The SEM photos of after-fracture cross sections show that a small area of delamination can be observed and the overall laminates bonding performance is good.

Objective To investigate the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) management in the treatment of giant neurofibroma in maxillofacial and neck region, to provide reference for clinical practice. Methods Retrospective analysis was conducted on the perioperative whole-process management process of 2 cases of giant neurofibroma in maxillofacial and neck region jointly formulated treatment plan by oral and maxillofacial surgery department with the assistance of the department of anesthesiology, ICU, vascular surgery, thoracic surgery, etc. Results MDT treatment process (anesthesia-embolization-collaborative surgery-ICU-post-operative management) of the two patients was smoothly conducted according to the pre-operative plan. There were no adverse events or accidents that were not predicted by the risk assessment from multiple teams during the operation, and no serious complications occurred after the operation. The post-operative pathological report of both cases was "neurofibroma". Wounds in both patients healed in stage I. The course of treatment was smooth, and the surgical treatment was completed without serious complications. Conclusion MDT management can play a positive role in the diagnosis and treatment of giant maxillofacial and neck neurofibroma so that patients can obtain safer and more effective diagnosis and treatment.

Enterocytozoon bieneusi is a common microsporidia species in humans and animals. Due to lack of effective vaccines and drugs, understanding of its epidemiological status and characteristics in different hosts is an important step in controlling the infection. The present study aimed at determining the prevalence of E. bieneusi in humans with diarrhea and animals in Yichun, in northeastern China, and assessing the epidemiological role of animals in the transmission of microsporidiosis. A total of 540 fecal samples were collected from diarrheal patients (n = 222) and 11 animal species (n = 318). Enterocytozoon bieneusi was identified and genotyped by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rRNA gene. Enterocytozoon bieneusi was detected in 1.4% (3/222) of diarrheal patients, and genotype D and novel genotypes YCHH1 and YCHH2 were identified. Enterocytozoon bieneusi was detected in wild boars (7.7%), sika deer (8.2%), dogs (3.2%), and ostriches (10.7%), and genotypes D, Type IV, Peru6, BEB6 and novel genotypes YCHA1, YCHA2 and YCHA3 were identified. Genotypes YCHH1, YCHH2 and YCHA1 were phylogenetically assigned to group 1, while YCHA2 and YCHA3 to groups 2 and 11, respectively. The finding of genotype D in humans and animals, and the identification of zoonotic genotypes Peru6, Type IV, BEB6 in animal-derived E. bieneusi isolates indicate the potential of zoonotic transmission of microsporidiosis in the investigated area. The observation of the three novel genotypes in group 1 indicates their zoonotic potential.

Highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza viruses (HPAIV) cause rapid systemic illness and death in susceptible animals, leading to a disease with high morbidity and mortality rates. Although vaccines and drugs are the best solution to prevent this threat, a more effective treatment for H5 strains of influenza has yet to be developed. Therefore, the development of therapeutics/drugs that combat H5N1 influenza virus infection is becoming increasingly important. Lycorine, the major component of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids, exhibits better protective effects against A/CK/GD/178/04 (H5N1) (GD178) viruses than the commercial neuraminidase (NA) inhibitor oseltamivir in our prior study. Lycorine demonstrates outstanding antiviral activity because of its inhibitory activity against the export of viral ribonucleoprotein complexes (vRNPs) from the nucleus. However, how lycorine affects the proteome of AIV infected cells is unknown. Therefore, we performed a comparative proteomic analysis to identify changes in protein expression in AIV-infected Madin-Darby Canine Kidney cells treated with lycorine. Three groups were designed: mock infection group (M), virus infection group (V), and virus infection and lycorine-treated after virus infection group (L). The multiplexed tandem mass tag (TMT) approach was employed to analyze protein level in this study. In total, 5,786 proteins were identified from the three groups of cells by using TMT proteomic analysis. In the V/M group, 1,101 proteins were identified, of which 340 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were determined during HPAIV infection; among the 1,059 proteins identified from the lycorine-treated group, 258 proteins presented significant change. Here, 71 proteins showed significant upregulation or downregulation of expression in the virus-infected/mock and virus-infected/lycorine-treated comparisons, and the proteins in each fraction were functionally classified further. Interestingly, lycorine treatment decreased the levels of the nuclear pore complex protein 93 (Nup93, E2RSV7), which is associated with nuclear–cytoplasmic transport. In addition, Western blot experiments confirmed that the expression of Nup93 was significantly downregulated in lycorine treatment but induced after viral infection. Our results may provide new insights into how lycorine may trap vRNPs in the nucleus and suggest new potential therapeutic targets for influenza virus.

In preclinical studies, a new antituberculosis drug regimen markedly reduced the time required to achieve relapse-free cure. This study aimed to preliminarily evaluate the efficacy and safety of this four-month regimen, consisting of clofazimine, prothionamide, pyrazinamide and ethambutol, with a standard six-month regimen in patients with drug-susceptible tuberculosis. An open-label pilot randomized clinical trial was conducted among the patients with newly diagnosed bacteriologically-confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis. The primary efficacy end-point was sputum culture negative conversion. Totally, 93 patients were included in the modified intention-to-treat population. The rates of sputum culture conversion were 65.2% (30/46) and 87.2% (41/47) for short-course and standard regimen group, respectively. There was no difference on two-month culture conversion rates, time to culture conversion, nor early bactericidal activity (P > 0.05). However, patients on short-course regimen were observed with lower rates of radiological improvement or recovery and sustained treatment success, which was mainly attributed to higher percent of patients permanently changed assigned regimen (32.1% vs. 12.3%, P = 0.012). The main cause for it was drug-induced hepatitis (16/17). Although lowering the dose of prothionamide was approved, the alternative option of changing assigned regimen was chosen in this study. While in per-protocol population, sputum culture conversion rates were 87.0% (20/23) and 94.4% (34/36) for the respective groups. Overall, the short-course regimen appeared to have inferior efficacy and higher incidence of hepatitis but desired efficacy in per-protocol population. It provides the first proof-of-concept in humans of the capacity of the short-course approach to identify drug regimens that can shorten the treatment time for tuberculosis.

High thermostability and catalytic activity are key properties for nitrile hydratase (NHase, EC 4.2.1.84) as a well-industrialized catalyst. In this study, rational design was applied to tailor the thermostability of NHase from Pseudonocardia thermophila JCM3095 (PtNHase) by combining FireProt server prediction and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Site-directed mutagenesis of non-catalytic residues provided by the rational design was subsequentially performed. The positive multiple-point mutant, namely, M10 (αI5P/αT18Y/αQ31L/αD92H/βA20P/βP38L/βF118W/βS130Y/βC189N/βC218V), was obtained and further analyzed. The Melting temperature (Tm) of the M10 mutant showed an increase by 3.2 °C and a substantial increase in residual activity of the enzyme at elevated temperatures was also observed. Moreover, the M10 mutant also showed a 2.1-fold increase in catalytic activity compared with the wild-type PtNHase. Molecular docking and MD simulations demonstrated better substrate affinity and improved thermostability for the mutant.

Nitrile hydratase (NHase) from Rhodococcus rhodochrous J1 is widely used for industrial production of acrylamide and nicotinamide. However, the two types of NHases (L-NHase and H-NHase) from R. rhodochrous J1 were only slightly expressed in E. coli by routine methods, which limits the comprehensive and systematic characterization of the enzyme properties. We successfully expressed the two types of recombinant NHases in E. coli by codon-optimization, engineering of Ribosome Binding Site (RBS) and spacer sequences. The specific activity of the purified L-NHase and H-NHase were 400 U/mg and 234 U/mg, respectively. The molecular mass of L-NHase and H-NHase was identified to be 94 kDa and 504 kDa, respectively, indicating that the quaternary structure of the two types of NHases was the same as those in R. rhodochrous J1. H-NHase exhibited higher substrate and product tolerance than L-NHase. Moreover, higher activity and shorter culture time were achieved in recombinant E. coli, and the whole cell catalyst of recombinant E. coli harboring H-NHase has equivalent efficiency in tolerance to the high-concentration product relative to that in R. rhodochrous J1. These results indicate that biotransformation of nitrile by R. rhodochrous J1 represents a potential alternative to NHase-producing E. coli.

Due to the rarity of human cases and the nonspecific clinical symptoms of dioctophymiasis, Dioctophyma renale infection is not well recognized and is easily neglected or misdiagnosed. Recently, we diagnosed a human case of dioctophymiasis accompanied by renal cancer. To enhance the understanding of human dioctophymiasis, this case is presented here, and a retrospective study of this disease was conducted based on relevant papers screened from PubMed and three Chinese databases. In the end, 32 papers describing 37 human cases of dioctophymiasis were assessed. These cases were distributed in ten countries of Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania, with the highest number in China (n = 22). The majority of the cases occurred in adults (91.9%, 34/37) and involved the kidneys (83.8%, 31/37). Ectopic parasitism mainly occurred in subcutaneous tissue (83.3%, 5/6). A proportion of 45.9% (17/37) of individuals had a history of eating raw or undercooked fish or frogs. The main clinical manifestations of human dioctophymiasis were loin pain (59.5%) and hematuria (59.5%). All the cases were diagnosed based on the morphological characteristics of eggs or adults in urine or tissue sections. Currently, there is no strictly defined therapeutic approach. This is the first retrospective analysis of human cases of dioctophymiasis. These review data will deepen our understanding of dioctophymiasis and help avoid misdiagnosis in clinical practice.

BackgroundConstrictive pericarditis (CP) is an uncommon disease that limits both cardiac relaxation and contraction. Patients often present with right-sided heart failure as the pericardium thickens and impedes cardiac filling. Pericardiectomy is the treatment of choice for improving hemodynamics in CP patients; however, the procedure carries a high morbidity and mortality, and the anesthetic management can be challenging. Acute heart failure, bleeding and arrhythmias are all concerns postoperatively.MethodsAfter IRB approval, we performed the retrospective analysis of 66 consecutive patients with CP who underwent pericardiectomy from July 2018 to May 2022.ResultsMost patients had significant preoperative comorbidities, including congestive hepatopathy (75.76%), New York Heart Association Type III/IV heart failure (59.09%) and atrial fibrillation (51.52%). Despite this, 75.76% of patients were extubated within the first 24 h and all but 2 of the patients survived to discharge (96.97%).ConclusionsAnesthetic management, including a thorough understanding of the pathophysiology of CP, the use of advanced monitoring and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) guidance, all played an important role in patient outcomes.

The quality of regional geochemical survey samples is currently estimated indirectly by internal and external laboratory quality control. The method described here effectively improves the quality of geochemical samples. However, the improvement of the method is limited when the contents of the actual samples and external quality control samples have large differences. Since most elements are in accord with a normal distribution in a regional geochemical survey sample, a comparison was made between the real and standard normal distribution of the elements, which passed the normal distribution test and gave an estimate of the quality by using a comparison of the real and standard graph′s superposition using SPSS and Excel software. This method was directly applied to estimate the quality of analysis data for geochemical survey samples in Jiangxi province. The result of the normal distribution test indicated that the analysis data of the trace elements need a logarithmic conversion before the normal distribution can be studied. The quality evaluation method in this paper was not suitable for Ti, W and Cr etc in this area. The overlap ratios of 18 elements such as Co, Hg and Ga were more than 0.9. The overlap ratios of CaO and Na2O were less than 0.9. The results of the actual samples indicated that the detection limits need to be reduced in order to improve the analysis qualities of CaO and Na2O. It was a valuable attempt to directly evaluate the quality of analysis data for regional geochemical survey samples by using the method reported in this paper, which was a reference and supplement for the current methods of quality evaluation.