Viral metagenomics reveals diverse viruses in the fecal samples of children with diarrhea

Diarrhea is the third leading cause of death in developing countries in children under the age of five. About half a million children die of diarrhea every year, most of which in developing countries. Viruses are the main pathogen of diarrhea. In China, the fecal virome of children with diarrhea has been rarely studied. Using an unbiased viral metagenomics approach, we analyzed the fecal virome in children with diarrhea. Many DNA or RNA viruses associated with diarrhea identified in those fecal samples were mainly from six families of Adenoviridae, Astroviridae, Caliciviridae, Parvoviridae, Picornaviridae, and Reoviridae. Among them, the family of Caliciviridae accounts for the largest proportion of 78.42%, following with Adenoviridae (8.94%) and Picornaviridae (8.36%). In addition to those diarrhea-related viruses that have already been confirmed to cause human diarrhea, the viruses not associated with diarrhea were also identified including anellovirus and picobirnavirus. This study increased our understanding of diarrheic children fecal virome and provided valuable information for the prevention and treatment of viral diarrhea in this area.     

广西灵川县种植业的可持续发展

广西是我国南方农业大省(区),明确其农业发展的制约因素,提出具体的解决措施,实现农业可持续发展,对解决农业、农村和农民问题,促进经济持续、快速、健康发展,实现社会主义现代化建设战略目标具有重要的理论和现实意义。主要采用了参与性农户评估方法(PRA),通过随机入户方式,与农户面对面交流,并结合调查问卷,对广西桂林市灵川县11个乡镇的农户进行了调查访问,为方便研究和数据处理,在数据分析过程中将该县11个乡镇分为3个片区:东部片区、中部片区、北部片区,对比3组农户的文化素质、种植制度、冬季农业现状、农业需求和农田水利设施等方面问题,探讨广西农业可持续发展的制约因素,并提出相应的对策,以期为广西农业可持续发展提供理论依据。调查结果表明,虽然目前灵川县农业取得众多发展成就,但仍存在以下几个方面的问题,严重影响了该县种植业可持续发展的进程。一是种植制度结构单一,二是冬季农业发展薄弱,三是种植技术贫乏,四是基础设施建设不完善等,因此,为促进灵川县种植业可持续发展,亟需采取以下对策和措施:调整作物种植结构,建立合理的种植制度;大力发展冬季农业;满足农民最迫切的农业需求;加强农业基础设施建设等。     

Genome-Wide Association Studies in an Isolated Founder Population from the Pacific Island of Kosrae

It has been argued that the limited genetic diversity and reduced allelic heterogeneity observed in isolated founder populations facilitates discovery of loci contributing to both Mendelian and complex disease. A strong founder effect, severe isolation, and substantial inbreeding have dramatically reduced genetic diversity in natives from the island of Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia, who exhibit a high prevalence of obesity and other metabolic disorders. We hypothesized that genetic drift and possibly natural selection on Kosrae might have increased the frequency of previously rare genetic variants with relatively large effects, making these alleles readily detectable in genome-wide association analysis. However, mapping in large, inbred cohorts introduces analytic challenges, as extensive relatedness between subjects violates the assumptions of independence upon which traditional association test statistics are based. We performed genome-wide association analysis for 15 quantitative traits in 2,906 members of the Kosrae population, using novel approaches to manage the extreme relatedness in the sample. As positive controls, we observe association to known loci for plasma cholesterol, triglycerides, and C-reactive protein and to a compelling candidate loci for thyroid stimulating hormone and fasting plasma glucose. We show that our study is well powered to detect common alleles explaining ≥5% phenotypic variance. However, no such large effects were observed with genome-wide significance, arguing that even in such a severely inbred population, common alleles typically have modest effects. Finally, we show that a majority of common variants discovered in Caucasians have indistinguishable effect sizes on Kosrae, despite the major differences in population genetics and environment.     

陕西食源性沙门氏菌耐药及相关基因

【目的】研究食源性沙门氏菌对常用抗生素的药敏性及相关耐药基因,更好的了解耐药性的产生和传播途径,确保食品安全。【方法】使用the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute推荐的琼脂稀释法测定沙门氏菌的药敏性,PCR和基因序列测定方法确定耐药沙门氏菌中整合子及其携带的耐药基因、与头孢菌素抗性相关的基因、沙门氏菌基因岛及与氟喹诺酮类抗生素耐药相关的基因突变。【结果】359株沙门氏菌中,67%的菌株对磺胺甲恶唑产生抗性,对甲氧苄啶/磺胺甲恶唑、四环素、卡那霉素、萘啶酮酸、氨苄西林、阿莫西林/克拉维酸、链霉素、氯霉素和庆大霉素、环丙沙星、头孢曲松、头孢西丁和头孢哌酮的耐药率分别为58%、56%、37%、35%、33%、32%、29%、26%、21%、16%、9%和8%。284株耐药菌中,79%的菌株可抗至少1种抗生素,25.9%可抗10种以上抗生素,2.5%可抗14种抗生素。耐药的Ⅰ类整合子以1.4kb最为常见,携带的耐药基因有aadA1、aadA2、aadA5、tetR、blaPSE-1、blaDHA-1、blaVEB-1、dhfrⅠ、dhfrⅤ、dhfrⅦ和dhfr17等。62株耐头孢曲松和/或头孢哌酮的沙门氏菌中,blaTEM和blaCMY-2基因的检出率分别为51.6%和56.5%。13.6%的沙门氏菌中检出了沙门氏菌基因岛。35株耐氟喹诺酮类抗生素的沙门氏菌的gyrA、parC和parE基因中共检出68个点突变,gyrA基因中常见突变为Ser83Phe、Ser83Tyr、Asp87Gly和Asp87Asn,parC基因中为Ser80Arg。parE基因中检出了Lys441Ile、Lys428Gln、Asp494Asn、Lys428Gln和Gly442Ser突变,这些点突变均为首次在食源性沙门氏菌中检出。【结论】陕西食源性沙门氏菌耐药状况严重,整合子、沙门氏菌基因岛和β-内酰胺酶编码基因的存在及解旋酶和拓扑异构酶基因突变是导致沙门氏菌耐药的重要机制。     

城市带状绿地结构类型与温湿效应的关系

利用小尺度定量测定的方法,选择北京典型的城市带状绿地--西四环旁侧4种不同内部结构以及5种不同郁闭度带状绿地(绿地宽度42 m)作为研究对象,研究带状绿地结构类型与温湿效应的关系.结果表明:与对照相比,草坪的降温增湿效应不显著,灌-草、乔-草和乔-灌-草绿地的降温增湿效果显著.当郁闭度为10%～31%时,绿地具有一定的降温增湿效应,但效应不显著;当郁闭度超过44%时,绿地降温增湿效应显著;当郁闭度超过67%时,绿地降温增湿效应显著且趋于稳定.     

Association study between kynurenine 3-monooxygenase gene and schizophrenia in the Japanese population

Several lines of evidence suggest that metabolic changes in the kynurenic acid (KYNA) pathway are related to the etiology of schizophrenia. The inhibitor of kynurenine 3-monooxygenase (KMO) is known to increase KYNA levels, and the KMO gene is located in the chromosome region associated with schizophrenia, 1q42-q44. Single-marker and haplotype analyses for 6-tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of KMO were performed (cases = 465, controls = 440). Significant association of rs2275163 with schizophrenia was observed by single-marker comparisons (P = 0.032) and haplotype analysis including this SNP (P = 0.0049). Significant association of rs2275163 and haplotype was not replicated using a second, independent set of samples (cases = 480, controls = 448) (P = 0.706 and P = 0.689, respectively). These results suggest that the KMO is unlikely to be related to the development of schizophrenia in Japanese.     

醋酸纤维素膜为基础的葡萄糖生物传感器的研制

用共价法将酶固定在醋酸纤维素膜上,方法简便易行,制造的酶膜稳定,比活力高。同时采用该方法制备了葡萄糖氧化酶酶膜,与氧电极组装成测定葡萄糖的生物传感器,线性范围为50~800mg／dl,仪器工作的最适pH为6．0,最适温度为40℃。将该膜与过氧化氢电极组装得到的传感器具有以下特性：线性范围为10~200mg／dl,最适pH为6．0,测定结果与酶试制盒有良好相关性。     

Mice vaccinated with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli ghosts show significant protection against lethal challenges

Aim: To prepare enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) E2348/69 ghosts and investigate whether immunization with EPEC bacterial ghosts can elicit protective immune responses. Methods and Results: A recombinant plasmid with double λPL/PR‐cI857 temperature‐sensitive regulatory cassettes was constructed. The lysis gene E and/or the staphylococcal nuclease A (SNA) gene were separately inserted downstream of the two regulatory cassettes to construct the lysis plasmids pBV220::E and pBV220::E::CI‐P‐SNA. An EPEC reference strain E2348/69 (serotype O127:H6) was transformed with the lysis plasmids to produce EPEC ghosts. Mice injected with bacterial ghosts EGE (EPEC ghosts produced using lysis protein E) or EGES (EPEC ghosts produced using a combination of lysis protein E and SNA) gained weight normally and showed no clinical signs of disease. Vaccination trials showed that mice immunized with EGE or EGES were significantly protected against subsequent challenge with the wild‐type virulent parent strain, EPEC E2348/69 (42/50 and 45/50 survival, respectively); in contrast, none of the 30 control mice survived. Conclusions: Immunization with EPEC ghosts can elicit protective immune responses in BALB/c mice. Significance and Impact of the Study: EPEC ghosts may represent a promising new approach for vaccination against EPEC infection.     

2010年山东省环境污水中脊髓灰质炎病毒的监测及其基因特征分析

本研究在山东省开展了脊髓灰质炎病毒(Poliovirus,PV)的外环境监测,从济南、临沂两地采集污水标本,浓缩处理后进行病毒分离,对分离到的PV采用中和试验进行血清定型,并对其VP1及3D区进行序列测定,分析其基因突变和重组情况。2010年,共采集污水标本32份,PV阳性10份,阳性率31.3%;分离到18株PV(PV1型3株,PV2型9株,PV3型6株),均为疫苗相关株,VP1完整编码区核苷酸变异数在0~4个之间,在3株PV2型病毒和4株PV3型病毒的基因组中发现重组;对VP1区影响神经毒力的减毒位点分析发现,PV1型病毒中有1株在nt 2 749发生突变(A→G),PV2型病毒中有1株在nt2 908发生A→G突变,3株在nt2 909发生U→C突变,6株PV3型病毒全部在nt2 493发生C→U突变。环境污水中可以分离到PV,其基因重组率和主要减毒位点的回复突变率较高,未发现脊灰野毒株和疫苗衍生株脊灰病毒(Vaccine-derived poliovirus,VDPV)。