The spatiotemporal distribution and prognostic factors of Japanese encephalitis in Shanxi Province, China, 2005-2022.

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a naturally occurring localized disease caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus, which is spread by the Culex tritaeniorhynchus. China has a high rate of JE. Shanxi, located in North China, has a high prevalence of adult JE. Adult JE has more severe complications, mortality, and a higher disease burden, making it a public health issue. This retrospective study examined the dynamic epidemic changes, high-risk areas of JE, and clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of adult JE in Shanxi Province. The findings revealed that July to September was the primary epidemic season of JE and that JE cases were mainly in individuals over the age of 40. The incidence of JE from 2005 to 2022 demonstrated a positive spatial correlation with significant clustering characteristics, with high-incidence clusters in the south and southeast. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that higher cerebrospinal fluid pressure, higher white blood cell counts, higher neutrophil percentage, deep coma, and lower albumin were independent factors for poor prognosis of adult JE. The developed risk prediction model holds great promise in early prognosis assessment of patients, providing a basis for clinical decision-making and early clinical intervention.

Comprehensive analysis of microbiome, metabolome and transcriptome revealed the mechanisms of Moringa oleifera polysaccharide on preventing ulcerative colitis.

This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of Moringa oleifera polysaccharide (MOP) on ulcerative colitis (UC) and explore its mechanism through the combined analysis of microbiome, metabolome and transcriptome. A UC model in mice was established using dextran sulphate sodium. After a 21-day experiment, results showed that MOP could inhibit the weight loss and disease activity index in UC mice. The intervention of MOP decreased the expression of inflammatory cytokines and promoted the secretion of tight junctions. MOP could promote the growth of probiotics such as Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136, Intestinimonas and Bifidobacterium in UC mice. The results of metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis indicated that MOP could regulated the metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acid and PPAR, TLR and TNF signalling pathways might play important roles in the process. Altogether, MOP could be used as a functional food to prevent UC.

Effects of Different Concentrations of Lactobacillus plantarum and Bacillus licheniformis on Silage Quality, In Vitro Fermentation and Microbial Community of Hybrid Pennisetum.

The purpose of the experiment was to study the effects of different concentrations of Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) and Bacillus licheniformis (BL) on the quality of hybrid Pennisetum (HP) silage. The experiment consisted of five treatment groups. The control group did not use additives, and the experimental groups were added with LP or BL of 1 × 105 cfu/g fresh weight (FW) and 1 × 107 cfu/g FW, respectively. The results showed that LP and BL could increase the in vitro fermentation gas production and reduce the ammonia nitrogen (AN) content in HP silage. Water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC), lactic acid (LA) content, and gas production in the LP group were positively correlated with LP addition, and acetic acid (AA) was negatively correlated with addition. The content of WSC and LA in the LP7 group was significantly higher than that in the control group (p < 0.05), and AA was lower than that in the control group (p > 0.05). Dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), and gas production were negatively correlated with the addition of BL, while acid detergent fiber (ADF) content was positively correlated with the addition of BL. Furthermore, in the above indicators, the BL5 group reached a significant level with the control group (p < 0.05). The results of 16sRNA showed that the use of LP and BL could increase the relative abundance of Lactobacillus and decrease the relative abundance of Weissella in HP silage compared with the control group. In conclusion, LP and BL can significantly improve the quality of HP silage. The LP7 group and the BL5 group have the best silage effect. From the perspective of gas production in in vitro fermentation, the LP7 group had stronger fermentability and higher nutritional value.

Effects of Broussonetia papyrifera silage on rumen fermentation parameters and microbes of Holstein heifers.

The structure and types of rumen microbes are closely related to host health. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of Broussonetia papyrifera silage (BPS) gradually replacing the whole crop maize silage (WCMS) on total tract digestibility, rumen fermentation parameters, serum biochemical indicators, and rumen microbes of Holstein heifers. The diet treatment consisted of four proportions of BPS (0%, 25%, 50% and 75%) as substitute for WCMS (designated as T0, T25, T50 and T75, respectively). Twenty heifers (body weight = 245 ± 24 kg) were randomly divided into four groups of five heifers, and randomly received one diet. The feeding adaption period was 7 days, and the experiment period was 30 days. Our findings suggested that the digestibility of neutral detergent fiber and crude protein increased linearly with the increased in BPS (P < 0.05). The concentrations of total protein and albumin increased quadratically with the increased in BPS (P < 0.05). The 16s high-throughput sequencing showed that feeding BPS did not change the diversity and structure of the rumen microbes of heifers. However, the relative abundances of Tenericutes and SR1-Absconditabacteria increased linearly with the increased in BPS (P < 0.05). The Weighted Correlation Network Analysis results suggested that ALT concentration was positively correlated with the abundance of Prevotella-1 (r = 0.73; P = 0.007). In general, Holstein heifers fed with BPS did not change the diversity and uniformity of rumen microbes, and enhanced the body protein metabolism.

Moringa oleifera polysaccharide regulates colonic microbiota and immune repertoire in C57BL/6 mice.

This study investigated the effects of Moringa oleifera polysaccharide (MOP) on serum immune indices, immune organ indices, colonic microflora and immune repertoire of mice. Forty male SPF C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into four groups and subjected to gavage of 0, 20, 40 and 60 mg/kg MOP for 28 days. Mice were sacrificed on the last day of the experiment and their thymus, spleen, blood and colon contents were collected for further detection. Our findings suggested that MOP could significantly increase the thymus index (P < 0.01) and spleen index (P < 0.05), and significantly decrease the levels of interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor-α in mice (P < 0.05). And MOP could regulate the proportion of colonic microflora of mice, significantly increase the abundance of Muribaculaceae and significantly decrease the abundance values of Proteobacteria, Helicobacter, Stenotrophomonas, etc (P < 0.05). In addition, MOP could regulate the usage frequencies of TRBV15 (P = 0.06) and TRBV9 (P = 0.10) on the TCRα chain and 9 V-J pairs were found to have remarkable usage frequency changes. These results implied that MOP exerted positive effects on the immune performance and intestinal health of mice.

Promoting healthy lifestyle considerations during pregnancy in Midwifery clinics in China: a best practice implementation project.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this project was to initiate and promote formal and individualized evidence-based education on healthy lifestyle choices during pregnancy for pregnant women. INTRODUCTION: Evidence suggests that lifestyle choices during pregnancy can have a profound influence on many pregnancy complications and chronic diseases such as preterm birth, diabetes, obesity, fetal growth restriction, breast cancer and hypertensive diseases in both pregnant women and their babies. It is widely accepted that formal, individualized, hospital-directed education about lifestyle choices during pregnancy should commence as early as the first consultation between pregnant women and maternal healthcare workers. METHODS: The methods of this project were audit and feedback. The approach to data collection used the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and implementation planning utilized the Getting Research into Practice component. A baseline audit of 50 observations of midwife-led education on prenatal lifestyle were conducted and measured against seven best practice audit criteria. Targeted strategies were then implemented to improve compliance to best practice. A follow-up audit was conducted over a 6-month period from June 2019 to November 2019. RESULTS: The baseline audit revealed significant deficits between current prenatal education practice and recommended best practice. Zero percent compliance was observed in six out of seven audit criteria, indicating that education provided did not conform to best practice. Total compliance (100%) was observed for one audit criterion at baseline, assessing pregnant women being offered an opportunity to discuss and ask questions regarding the education session or information they had received. Three barriers that prevented midwives from achieving compliance with best practice were identified, and a bundled education strategy was implemented. A follow-up audit indicated 100% compliance of all audit criteria. CONCLUSION: Results demonstrated that formal, individualized, midwife-led prenatal education and provision of relevant evidence-based resources had an immediate positive effect. The project helped to transform care givers' attitudes toward education regarding lifestyle during pregnancy from a passive routine 'must do' task to an active process with focus on healthy lifestyle and engagement of pregnant women. Future strategies such as support from hospital management and social media are planned in conjunction with follow-up clinical audits to ensure sustainability.

Bispectral analysis and recovery of images distorted by a moving water surface.

We propose a new algorithm to recover a geometrically correct image of an object or scene from a set of images distorted by the wave motion of a water surface. Under mild conditions where the wavy surface normals weakly satisfy a Gaussian distribution, we demonstrate that the geometric distortion can be removed and a corrected image can be recovered. Our method is based on higher-order spectra analysis-in particular, the bispectrum, similar to its use in astronomical speckle imaging. In adapting this technique to imaging through or over a moving water surface, special care must be taken, and specifically tailored techniques are discussed in this paper. Our algorithm has been tested under two different scenarios: the refraction of light through a water surface (the underwater case) and the reflection of light from a water surface (the reflection case). Results in both cases have been encouraging.

Bicoherence: a new lucky region technique in anisoplanatic image restoration.

A novel algorithm is proposed to predict "lucky" regions in a sequence of long-range camera images affected by atmospheric turbulence. Our new approach is to employ bicoherence as a measure of quality to determine lucky regions or good quality image patches from a recorded sequence of anisoplanatic images. The better-quality image regions are selected according to the magnitude of the average value of the bicoherence of each region. Each image patch is restored using bispectral phase estimation from lucky regions, before mosaicing to an overall restoration. Bicoherence can also be used to predict lucky images in the isoplanatic case. Experiments show that our algorithm performs well with both simulated and naturally degraded data.

Cytotoxic ent-kaurane diterpenoids from Isodon eriocalyx.

Five new ent-kaurane diterpenoids, epi-maoecrystal N (1), eriocalyxin G (2), maoecrystal W (3), maoecrystal X (4), and maoecrystal Y (5), along with 22 known ones, were isolated from Isodon eriocalyx (Dunn.) Hara., and their structures were determined by spectroscopic methods. All diterpenoids, except for 3 and 13, were evaluated for inhibition of the K562, T-24, Me180, QGY-7701, and BIU87 cell lines (Table 2).