Analysis of mild and severe neonatal enterovirus infections in a Chinese neonatal tertiary center: a retrospective case-control study.

PURPOSE: To compare the clinical characteristics, virus serotype, and outcome in cases of mild and severe enteroviral infection at a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit in China. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of cases hospitalized between June and August 2019. Samples (stool or throat swabs) were examined using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Positive cases were divided into two groups: mild infection and severe infection. RESULTS: A total of 149 cases were assigned to one of two groups: mild infection (n = 104) and severe infection (n = 45). There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of sex, gestational age, birth weight, mode of delivery, and onset within 7 days. Clinical symptoms in both groups mostly resembled sepsis (fever, rash, poor feeding, and lethargy); however, there were significant variations in concomitant symptoms such as hepatitis, thrombocytopenia, encephalitis, coagulopathy, and myocarditis. Severe cases were more likely to have abnormal complete blood counts, biochemical parameters, and cerebrospinal fluid markers. The predominant serotypes implicated in neonatal enterovirus infections were echoviruses and Coxsackievirus B. Invasive ventilation, intravenous immunoglobulin, vasoactive medications, and blood product transfusions were often required, with high mortality rates among severe cases. CONCLUSION: We found significant differences between mild and severe cases of neonatal enterovirus infection with respect to complications, laboratory findings, and enterovirus serotypes. It is crucial to exercise caution when newborns exhibit symptoms of sepsis, during an enterovirus outbreak. Anemia, thrombocytopenia, abnormal liver function, and coagulation dysfunction should be monitored closely as they could indicate the presence of a severe enteroviral infection.

One-pot green solid-state synthesis of Cu2O/microcrystalline cellulose composite with high anti-pathogenic activity.

Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is proven as an excellent anti-harmful microbial material. However, the liquid and vapor pha5se preparation methods reported so far hardly make pure Cu2O-containing composites and suffer environmental issues caused by chemical reducing agents with multiple processing steps. This work develops a facile one-pot solid-state sintering method to synthesize Cu2O/microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) composite via the thermal decomposition and oxidation-reduction reactions where copper formate was reduced by MCC. The Cu2O/MCC composite exhibits superior purity, dispersibility, stability, high yield, and high efficacy of antibacterial and antiviral properties, e.g., against E. coli, S. aureus, and Equine Arteritis Viral. This work utilizes elegantly the strong reducing capability of cellulose to develop an environmentally benign method to prepare high-purity Cu2O-polymer composites with low cytotoxicity and cost, which can be incorporated readily into other substrate materials to form various forms of anti-harmful microbial materials widely used in public health care products. In addition, the preparation of Cu2O-containing composites based on the reducing capability of cellulose is also expected to be applied to other cellulose-based materials for the loading of Cu2O particles.

Dynamic pattern of gene expression of ZnT-4, caspase-3, LC3, and PRG-3 in rat cerebral cortex following flurothyl-induced recurrent neonatal seizures.

Zinc transporters, plasticity-related genes, and autophagic/apoptotic pathway both are associated with developmental seizure-induced brain excitotoxicity. Here, for the first time, we report the timing of expression pattern of zinc transporter 4 (ZnT-4), plasticity-related gene 3 (PRG-3), specific marker of autophagic vacuoles (LC3), and apoptotic marker caspase-3 in cerebral cortex following neonatal seizures. A seizure was induced by inhalant flurothyl daily in neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats from postnatal day 6 (P6). Rats were assigned into the recurrent-seizure group (RS, seizures induced in six consecutive days) and the control group. At 1.5 h, 3 h, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 7 days, and 14 days after the last seizure, the mRNA level of the four genes in cerebral cortex was detected using RT-PCR method. At an early period 6 h or 12 h after the last seizures, both ZnT-4 and LC3 showed significantly up-regulated mRNA level while PRG-3 showed significantly down-regulated mRNA level at 12 h in cerebral cortex of RS group than those at the corresponding time point in control group. In the long-term time point of 7 days after the last seizure, the mRNA level of caspase-3 down-regulated; meanwhile, there was up-regulated mRNA level of LC-3 in RS group when compared to the control rats. This is the first report investigating the gene expression pattern of ZnT-4, PRG-3, LC-3, and caspase-3 in the developing brain. The results suggest that the disturbed expression pattern of the four genes might play a role in the pathophysiology of recurrent neonatal seizure-induced acute and long-term brain damage.

Dynamic pattern of gene expression of ZnT-1, ZnT-3 and PRG-1 in rat brain following flurothyl-induced recurrent neonatal seizures.

Zinc transporters (ZnTs) and plasticity-related genes (PRGs) both play the key roles in the formation of hippocampal mossy fiber sprouting, which is associated with cognitive deficits following developmental seizures. Here, for the first time, we report the timing of expression pattern of ZnT-1, ZnT-3 and PRG-1 in hippocampus and cerebral cortex following developmental seizures. A seizure was induced by inhalant flurothyl daily in neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats from postnatal day 6 (P6). Rats were assigned into the recurrent-seizure group (RS, seizures induced in 6 consecutive days) and the control group. At 1.5 h, 3 h, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 7 d and 14 d after the last seizures, the mRNA level was detected using RT-PCR method; PRG-1 protein level was examined by Western blotting analysis. At an early period of 12 h and 48 h after the last seizures, both ZnT-1 and ZnT-3 showed significantly down-regulated mRNA level in the cerebral cortex of RS group than those at the corresponding time point in control group. In the long-term time point of 14 d after the last seizure, ZnT-3 mRNA and PRG-1 protein level in hippocampus were up-regulated while the mRNA level of ZnT-1 down-regulated; in addition, there were up-regulated level of both the mRNA and protein level of PRG-1 and down-regulated mRNA level of ZnT-3 in the cerebral cortex of RS group when compared to the control. Taken together, these dates are consistent with an important role for ZnT-1, ZnT-3 and PRG-1 in the pathophysiology of the long-term adverse effects of recurrent neonatal seizure-induced hippocampal mossy fiber sprouting and cognitive deficit.