High-Throughput Mass Spectrometric Analysis of the Whole Proteome and Secretome From Sinorhizobium fredii Strains CCBAU25509 and CCBAU45436.

Sinorhizobium fredii is a dominant rhizobium on alkaline-saline land that can induce nitrogen-fixing symbiotic root nodules in soybean. Two S. fredii strains, CCBAU25509 and CCBAU45436, were used in this study to facilitate in-depth analyses of this species and its interactions with soybean. We have previously completed the full assembly of the genomes and detailed transcriptomic analyses for these two S. fredii strains, CCBAU25509 and CCBAU45436, that exhibit differential compatibility toward some soybean hosts. In this work, we performed high-throughput Orbitrap analyses of the whole proteomes and secretomes of CCBAU25509 and CCBAU45436 at different growth stages. Our proteomic data cover coding sequences in the chromosome, chromid, symbiotic plasmid, and other accessory plasmids. In general, we found higher levels of protein expression by genes in the chromosomal genome, whereas proteins encoded by the symbiotic plasmid were differentially accumulated in bacteroids. We identified secreted proteins from the extracellular medium, including seven and eight Nodulation Outer Proteins (Nops) encoded by the symbiotic plasmid of CCBAU25509 and CCBAU45436, respectively. Differential host restriction of CCBAU25509 and CCBAU45436 is regulated by the allelic type of the soybean Rj2(Rfg1) protein. Using sequencing data from this work and available in public databases, our analysis confirmed that the soybean Rj2(Rfg1) protein has three major allelic types (Rj2/rfg1, rj2/Rfg1, rj2/rfg1) that determine the host restriction of some Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens and S. fredii strains. A mutant defective in the type 3 protein secretion system (T3SS) in CCBAU25509 allowed this strain to nodulate otherwise-incompatible soybeans carrying the rj2/Rfg1 allelic type, probably by disrupting Nops secretion. The allelic forms of NopP and NopI in S. fredii might be associated with the restriction imposed by Rfg1. By swapping the NopP between CCBAU25509 and CCBAU45436, we found that only the strains carrying NopP from CCBAU45436 could nodulate soybeans carrying the rj2/Rfg1 allelic type. However, no direct interaction between either forms of NopP and Rfg1 could be observed.

Renal registry in Hong Kong-the first 20 years.

Renal Registry was started by the Hospital Authority (HA) in Hong Kong in 1995. It is an online system developed by HA. It collects all patients under care in HA, which is about 90-95 % of all requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT) in Hong Kong. The total number of patients treated increased from 3312 in 1996 to 8510 in 2013. In 2013, there were 3501 renal transplant, 1192 hemodialysis (HD) and 3817 peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. In 2013, 1147 new patients joined the RRT program, 49.6% of them suffered from diabetic nephropathy. Glomerulonephritis and hypertension are the 2nd and 3rd most common causes of RRT in Hong Kong. The median age was 59.1 years with male to female ratio of 1.54 to 1. Hong Kong practices 'PD first' policy and the majority of the patients are on CAPD treatment. The ratio of PD to HD was 76.2% to 23.8%. Eighty-six percent of all PD patients are on CAPD; the remaining 14% are on automated peritoneal dialysis (APD). Sixty-five percent of all dialysis patients are on erythropoiesis-stimulating agent treatment. The Hong Kong Renal Registry with online real-time data input and access can provide timely data and information to facilitate patient care and management and also provides invaluable data to help in development and planning of renal services in Hong Kong.

Analysis of wax burn cases presenting to an Emergency Department in Hong Kong during the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival.

Records of patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) of the Prince of Wales Hospital with wax burns during Mid-Autumn festival from 1998 to 2001 were retrieved and analyzed. There were 26 patients in total (21 males, 5 females). Annual attendances from 1998 to 2001 were 11, 7, 4 and 4, respectively. Age ranged from 1 to 33 years (median age: 11.5). Most patients were injured by molten wax (n=23, 88.5%), the rest were burnt by flame (n=3, 11.5%). Partial thickness burn (superficial and deep) was the most common (n=23, 88.4%). Superficial burn accounted for the rest (n=3, 11.5%). No patient had full thickness burn. All patients had <5% of body surface area (BSA) burnt, with the majority only involving <1% BSA (n=16, 61.5%). The commonest sites of injury were the lower limbs (n=15, 57.7%), the upper limbs (n=8, 30.8%) and face (n=7, 26.9%). Three patients (11.5%) had multiple sites burnt. Only eight patients (30.8%) required burns surgeon's consultation, out of which seven (26.9%) required in-patient treatment. Most burns caused by or related to boiling wax were minor. The declining incidence is the combined result of legislation, product modification, education and publicity.

Predictors of positive stool culture in adult patients with acute infectious diarrhea.

Stool cultures for bacterial pathogens are often requested for investigation of patients with infectious diarrhea, but the literature reports low yield for this diagnostic test. The identification of clinical predictors of positive stool culture will help the physician in determining the necessity for stool requests. A retrospective study was performed in the setting of an Emergency Department (ED) in Hong Kong, to compare presenting features of adult patients with positive stool culture against those with negative culture. We compared 130 consecutive cases with positive stool culture, over a 12-month period, against 119 control cases obtained from a random sampling of 524 consecutive negative cases over the same period. In multivariate analysis, the independent variables found to be associated with positive stool culture were: the month of presentation (summer season), fever, duration of abdominal pain, and requirement of IV fluid therapy. Neither bloody diarrhea nor persistent diarrhea was associated with positive stool culture.