Introduction: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) remains a challenge in the TB program of Taiwan, where 0.5% of new cases and 2.1% of previously treated cases were resistant to at least rifampin (RIF) and isoniazid (INH).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: For facilitating tuberculosis (TB) control, we used a whole-genome sequencing (WGS)-based approach to delineate transmission networks in a country with an intermediate burden of TB. A cluster was defined as isolates with identical genotypes, and an outbreak was defined as clustered cases with epidemiological links (epi-links). To refine a cluster predefined using space oligonucleotide typing and mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit variable tandem repeat typing, we analyzed one pansusceptible TB (C1) and three multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB (C2-C4) clusters from different scenarios.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe genomic components of multipartite viruses are encapsidated in separate virus particles, and the frequencies of genomic components represent one of the key genetic features. Many begomoviruses of economic significance are bipartite, and the details of the association between their genomic components remain largely unexplored. We first analyzed the temporal dynamics of the quantities of DNA-A and DNA-B and the B/A ratio of the squash leaf curl China virus (SLCCNV) in plants and found that while the quantities of DNA-A and DNA-B varied significantly during infection, the B/A ratio remained constant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) posed challenges to global TB control. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) is recommended for predicting drug resistance to guide DR-TB treatment and management. Nevertheless, data are lacking in Taiwan.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTargeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS) has emerged as an alternative method for detecting drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). To provide comprehensive drug susceptibility information and to address mutations missed by available commercial molecular diagnostics, we developed and evaluated a tNGS panel with 22 whole-gene targets using the Ion Torrent platform to predict drug resistance to 14 drugs, namely, rifampicin (RIF), isoniazid (INH), ethambutol (EMB), pyrazinamide (PZA), moxifloxacin (MFX), levofloxacin (LFX), amikacin (AMK), capreomycin (CM), kanamycin (KM), streptomycin (SM), bedaquiline (BDQ), clofazimine (CFZ), linezolid (LZD), and delamanid (DLM). We selected 50 and 35 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates with various DR profiles as the training set and the challenge set, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEight new species were collected from Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province, China during a survey of the phrurolithid fauna of the region: Liu, (♂♀), Liu, (♂), Liu, (♂♀), Liu, (♂♀), Liu, (♂♀), Liu, (♂♀), Liu, (♂♀) and Liu, (♀). All species are described and illustrated with photographs and SEM micrographs, and their distribution is also mapped.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhrurolithidae spiders were collected from Jinggang Mountain National Nature Reserve, Jiangxi Province, China, during the past six years. The new genus Liu, , with the type species Song & Kim, 1991, is described, and its previously unknown male is described for the first time. Furthermore, seven new species of are described: Liu, (♂♀), Liu, (♂♀), Liu, (♀), Liu, (♂♀), Liu, (♂♀), Liu, (♂♀), and Liu, (♀).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are multipotential stem cells considered to have immense clinical value for revascularization. However, the clinical application of EPCs has been hampered by their clinical potency in ischemic anoxic environments. This study aimed to explore the effect of microRNA-210 (miR-210) on EPCs under oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Precise subtype classification based on underlying pathophysiology is important to prevent recurrent attack in minor stroke patients. A newly developed Atherosclerosis, Small vessel disease, Cardiac source, Others (ASCO) phenotypic classification system aims to characterize patients using different grades of evidence for stroke subtypes. However, this system has not been specifically applied to minor stroke population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParkinsonism Relat Disord
March 2012
Objective: The aim of the study is to investigate the prevalence rate of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in elderly Chinese people over 50 years of age in an urban suburb of Shanghai by a community-based study.
Methods: A 3-step survey was adopted including two telephone-based interviews and one face-to-face interview. We used questions based on four diagnostic criteria for RLS to perform the first telephone interview.
Background: Hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is a key transcriptional factor activated during cerebral ischemia, which regulates a great number of downstream genes, including those associated with cell death. In the present study, we aimed to test the hypothesis that post-ischemic HIF-1α up-regulation might promote autophagy activation; thereby, HIF-1α inhibitor 2ME2 might prevent neurons from ischemic injury through inhibiting autophagy.
Methods: Global ischemia was induced using the four-vessel occlusion model (4-VO) in Sprague-Dawley rats (male, 250-280g).
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy is a common feature in Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is characterized by amyloid deposit around brain vessels including capillaries. The origin of the amyloid protein of CAA remains controversial. In our work, we provide data to show that primary umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) harbor APP processing secretases and can produce Abeta(42) under starvation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFApolipoprotein E (APOE) promoter polymorphisms have long been linked to Alzheimer disease (AD) susceptibility, although the established data remains controversial. Using meta-analysis, our study aimed to clarify the nature of the genetic risks contributed by the three polymorphisms for developing AD. Medline, Embase, and Alzgene search identified 40 studies with 9,662 cases and 9.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Genetic studies restricted to young adult ischemic stroke patients may help in excluding the potentially confounding variables encountered with advanced age; thus, allowing a more precise risk evaluation derived from the inherited mutations alone. Through meta-analysis, this study was conducted to determine the genetic risk contributed by each susceptibility gene polymorphism, particularly in adult early-onset ischemic stroke patients.
Materials And Methods: Electronic databases were searched for all the case-control studies relating to any candidate genes for ischemic stroke.
Objective: To investigate the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), the distribution of their haplotypes and linkage disequilibrium of hepatic lipase (HL) gene promoter 250G/A, 514C/T, 710T/C and 763A/G in cerebral infarction patients of Shanghai.
Methods: Peripheral blood sample were collected from 133 patients with cerebral infarction and 112 healthy controls in Shanghai. The HL gene polymorphism was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction- restriction fragment length polymorphism.