Biomarkers of iron metabolism facilitate clinical diagnosis in infection.

Background: Perturbed iron homeostasis is a risk factor for tuberculosis (TB) progression and an indicator of TB treatment failure and mortality. Few studies have evaluated iron homeostasis as a TB diagnostic biomarker.

Methods: We recruited participants with TB, latent TB infection (LTBI), cured TB (RxTB), pneumonia (PN) and healthy controls (HCs).

Empirical treatment with non-anti-tuberculosis antibiotics decreased microbiological detection in cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis.

Diagnosis of cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis (CTL), the most commonly occurring form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis, remains as a challenge in clinic. Detection of the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) samples is one golden criterion to confirm the CTL diagnosis. Due to the non-specific clinical presentation, CTL might be confused with other lymph node enlargement diseases; therefore empirical treatment with non-anti-TB antibiotics is often initially administered.

Enhancement of Ag85B DNA vaccine immunogenicity against tuberculosis by dissolving microneedles in mice.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global public health problem. New immunization methods against TB are urgently needed. Plasmid DNA with a microneedle patch is a potentially attractive strategy to improve the immune effect.

4-1BB expression on MAIT cells is associated with enhanced IFN-γ production and depends on IL-2.

The role of MAIT cells in immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in humans is still largely unexplored. In this study, we investigated the functional role of 4-1BB on MAIT cells. We found that 4-1BB was highly up-regulated on MAIT cells from tuberculous pleural effusions following Mtb antigen stimulation and its level of expression correlated with IFN-γ and IL-17 production.

Immunotherapeutic effect of BCG-polysaccharide nucleic acid powder on Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected mice using microneedle patches.

Polysaccharide nucleic acid fractions of bacillus Calmette-Guérin, termed BCG-PSN, have traditionally been used as immunomodulators in the treatment of dermatitis and allergic diseases. While the sales of injectable BCG-PSN have shown steady growth in recent years, no reports of using BCG-PSN powder or its immunotherapeutic effects exist. Here, BCG-PSN powder was applied directly to the skin to evaluate the immunotherapeutic effects on mice infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB).

Progress in studies of the mechanisms and clinical diagnosis of cervical carcinoma associated with genomic integration of high-risk human papillomavirus DNA.

High-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) has been identified as a key factor in the development of cervical cancer. Integration of viral DNA into the host genome has been postulated as an important etiological event during cervical carcinogenesis. High-risk HPV DNA integration frequently results in either the deletion or interruption of the large fragment of E1 and E2 region and the overexpression of oncogenes E6 and E7 in the viral genome, and the activation of oncogenes and the inactivation of tumor suppressors in host genome.

Rapid and visual detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex using recombinase polymerase amplification combined with lateral flow strips.

To definitively diagnose active pulmonary Tuberculosis (TB), Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) bacilli must be identified within clinical specimens from patients. In this study, we introduced a rapid and visual detection method of MTBC using recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) combined with lateral flow (LF) strips. The LF-RPA assay, read results with naked eyes, could detect as few as 5 genome copies of M.

Tuberculosis infection in rural labor migrants in Shenzhen, China: Emerging challenge to tuberculosis control during urbanization.

During China's urbanization process, rural labor migrants have been suggested to be one important bridge population to change urban-rural distribution on tuberculosis (TB) burden. Aiming to estimate the prevalence of TB infection and to track the active disease development in rural labor migrants, a prospective study was conducted in Shenzhen city, southern China. TB infection was detected using interferon-γ release assay (IGRA).

Association between glycated hemoglobin A1c levels with age and gender in Chinese adults with no prior diagnosis of diabetes mellitus.

The present cross-sectional study consisted of 18,265 Chinese patients not previously diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, and who underwent physical examination at the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen between June 2014 and May 2015 (mean patient age, 51.312±15.252 years).

[The relationship between chest CT findings and viral load in patients with novel influenza A (H1N1)].

Objective: To evaluate the value of chest CT findings and dynamic changes of viral load in patients with novel influenza A (H1N1) infection in clinical diagnosis, differential diagnosis and treatment.

Methods: Fifty-one patients with confirmed novel influenza A (H1N1) according to the diagnostic criteria of the Ministry of Health, received chest X-ray, CT scans (HRCT) and viral load tests in our hospital from May to December of 2009. Based on whether there were signs of pneumonia in CT imaging, the patients were divided into a pneumonia group (n = 31) and a non-pneumonia group (n = 20).