Surveillance, epidemiology, and impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 interventions on the incidence of enterovirus infections in Nanchang, China, 2010-2022.

Introduction: Pathogen spectrum of Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) has substantially changed in the past decade in China. Growing evidence has indicated that anti-COVID-19 nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) can support control of various infectious diseases, including intestinal diseases. Methods: In this study, HFMD cases were enrolled from sentinel hospitals of Nanchang, Jiangxi province, and enteroviruses were genotyped using specific real time RT-PCR. We systematically characterized the epidemiology of HFMD based on the continuous molecular surveillance and estimated the impact of COVID-19 intervention on HFMD incidence using seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models. Results: A total of 10247 HFMD cases were included during 2010-2022, of which 6121 enterovirus (EV)-positive cases (59.7%) were identified by real-time RT-PCR. Over 80% cases were associated with EV-A71 and coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16) during 2010-2012, while the type distribution significantly changed as CVA6 emerged to be dominant, accounting for 22.6%-59.6% during 2013-2022. It was observed that the prevalence patterns of EV-A71 and CVA16 were similar and both of them peaked in the second quarter and then leveled off. However, CVA6 was generally prevalent around the fourth quarter, demonstrating a staggered prevalence during 2010-2019. During the COVID-19 epidemic, the seasonal HFMD epidemic peak was restrained, and the ARIMA analysis indicated that the COVID-19 intervention had mitigated EV transmission during the first COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020. In addition, bivariate Spearman's cross-correlation coefficients were estimated for the major types CVA6, CVA16 and EV-A71. Our analyses indicated the possible existence of correlations among CVA6, CVA16 and EV-A71 prevalence in the epidemiological level. Discussion: Taken together, the type distribution of HFMD has substantially changed over the last decade and CVA6 and CVA16 are currently the most predominant types co-circulating in Nanchang. The anti-COVID-19 NPIs significantly reduced the incidence of EV infections.

Particle sorting to improve the removal of fluoride and aluminum nitride from secondary aluminum dross by roasting.

It is important to remove active substances from secondary aluminum dross (SAD) to meet the reuse of SAD. In this work, the removal of active substances from different particle sizes of SAD was studied using roasting improvement with particle sorting. The results showed that roasting after particle sorting pretreatment can effectively remove fluoride and aluminum nitride (AlN) from SAD, while getting the high-grade alumina (Al2O3) crude materials. The active substances of SAD mainly contribute to AlN, aluminum carbide (Al4C3), and soluble fluoride ions. AlN and Al3C4 mainly exist in particles of 0.05-0.1 mm, while Al and fluoride are mainly in particles of 0.1-0.2 mm. The SAD of particle size ranging 0.1-0.2 mm has high activity and leaching toxicity; the gas emission was reached 50.9 mL/g (limit value of 4 mL/g), and the fluoride ion concentration in the literature was 137.62 mg/L (limit value of 100 mg/L) during the identification for reactivity and leaching toxicity according to GB5085.5-2007 and GB5085.3-2007, respectively. Roasting at 1000 °C for 90 min, the active substances of SAD were converted to Al2O3, N2, and CO2; meanwhile, soluble fluoride converted to stable CaF2. The final gas release was reduced to 2.01 mL/g while soluble fluoride from SAD residues was reduced to 6.16 mg/L, respectively. The Al2O3 content of SAD residues was determined at 91.8% and has been classified as category I solid waste. The results suggested that the roasting improvement with particle sorting of SAD can meet the reuse of valuable materials at full scale.

Assessment of myocardial viability with delayed-enhancement MRI in coronary artery disease: A correlative study with coronary artery stenosis using digital subtraction angiography.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation between the degree of coronary artery stenosis determined by digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and infarcted segments detected by delayed enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (DE-MRI). DE-MRI and DSA were performed in 40 patients with coronary artery disease. The number of myocardial segments with infarction, the transmural extent of myocardial infarction, score of myocardial infarction by MRI, degree of coronary artery stenosis and Gensini score of the coronary artery were assessed. The correlation was analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation test. Among the 40 patients, 126 infarcted myocardial segments with a total score of 307 were found by DE-MRI; the total Gensini score for coronary artery stenosis was 587. It was observed that 81.74% of the infarcted segments were at sites with >50% coronary artery stenosis. The correlation coefficient between the Gensini score and myocardial infarction score was 0.786 (P<0.001), indicating a good correlation. However, 18.26% of myocardial infarction segments were found in patients with slight coronary artery stenosis (≤25%). A correlation was identified between DSA detected coronary artery stenosis and infarcted segments detected by DE-MRI; a higher transmural extent of myocardial infarction correlated with more severe stenosis of the coronary artery. The combined use of the two tools may facilitate accurate diagnosis.

[The study on the change of extracellular histones in human plasma during the pathogenesis of silicosis].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the plasma level of extracellular histones in patients with silicosis, and to explore the role of extracellular histones in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis in silicosis. METHODS: Sixty-two patients with silicosis were enrolled as the silicosis group, consisting of 23 patients with stage I silicosis, 25 with stage II silicosis, and 14 with stage III silicosis; sixty workers who had a history of occupational exposure to silica dust for more than 2 years and had not been diagnosed with silicosis were enrolled as the silica dust exposure group; sixty-five healthy workers without a history of occupational exposure to dust were enrolled as healthy controls. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was applied to measure the plasma levels of plasma extracellular histone (H4) and transforming growth factor-ß(TGF-ß). RESULTS: Compared with healthy controls [(0.82±0.67) µg/ml], the silica dust exposure group[(4.14±2.85) µg/ml] and silicosis group[(9.50±5.04) µg/ml] had significant increases in plasma level of H4 (P<0.01). The plasma level of H4 was significantly correlated with the stage of silicosis(r=0.8955, P=0.0388). The silicosis group had a significantly higher plasma level of TGF-ß than the silica dust exposure group and healthy controls(P <0.05). In the patients with silicosis, the plasma level of H4 was significantly correlated with that of TGF-ß(r=0.5375, P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The plasma level of extracellular histones increases significantly in the pathogenesis of silicosis, and extracellular histones may play an important role in the progression of fibrosis in silicosis.

Characteristics of diffusion-tensor imaging for healthy adult rhesus monkey brains.

Diffusion-tensor imaging can be used to observe the microstructure of brain tissue. Fractional sotropy reflects the integrity of white matter fibers. Fractional anisotropy of a young adult brain is low in gray matter, high in white matter, and highest in the splenium of the corpus callosum. Thus, we selected the anterior and posterior limbs of the internal capsule, head of the caudate nucleus, semioval center, thalamus, and corpus callosum (splenium and genu) as regions of interest when using diffusion-tensor imaging to observe fractional anisotropy of major white matter fiber tracts and the deep gray matter of healthy rhesus monkeys aged 4-8 years. Results showed no laterality ferences in fractional anisotropy values. Fractional anisotropy values were low in the head of date nucleus and thalamus in gray matter. Fractional anisotropy values were highest in the splenium of corpus callosum in the white matter, followed by genu of the corpus callosum and the posterior limb of the internal capsule. Fractional anisotropy values were lowest in the semioval center and posterior limb of internal capsule. These results suggest that fractional anisotropy values in major white matter fibers and the deep gray matter of 4-8-year-old rhesus monkeys are similar to those of healthy young people.