Sociodemographic Factors Associated With HIV/HCV High-Risk Behaviors Among People Who Use Drugs on Methadone Maintenance Treatment: A 10-Year Observational Study.

Sociodemographic factors have an impact worldwide on the behavior of people who use drugs (PWUD). This study attempts to clarify the sociodemographic factors related to HIV/HCV high-risk behaviors (injection drug use, syringe sharing, and multiple sex partners) among PWUD on methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in the long term. The 13,300 PWUD recruited into the MMT program were followed during 2006-2015.

Copy number variation (CNV) in the gene across four cattle breeds and its association with economic traits.

The insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) plays a vital role in immunomodulation and muscle and bone growth. The copy number variation (CNV) is believed to the reason for many complex phenotypic variations. In this paper, we statistically analyzed the copy number and the expression profiling in different tissue types of the gene using the 422 samples from four Chinese beef cattle breeds, and the mRNA of was widely expressed in nine tissue types of adult cattle (heart, liver, kidney, muscle, fat, stomach, spleen, lung and testis).

Identification of Factors Influencing Out-of-county Hospitalizations in the New Cooperative Medical Scheme.

Throughout the duration of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS), it was found that an increasing number of rural patients were seeking out-of-county medical treatment, which posed a great burden on the NCMS fund. Our study was conducted to examine the prevalence of out-of-county hospitalizations and its related factors, and to provide a scientific basis for follow-up health insurance policies. A total of 215 counties in central and western China from 2008 to 2016 were selected.

Copy Number Variation of the Gene in Sheep and Its Association with Economic Traits.

Copy number variation (CNV) caused by gene rearrangement is an important part of genomic structural variation. We found that the copy number variation region of the Src Homology 2 Domain Containing E () gene correlates with a quantitative trait locus of sheep related to milk fat percentage and bone density. The aim of our study was to detect the copy number variation of the gene in four sheep breeds and to conduct a correlation analysis with economic traits, hoping to provide some reference for sheep breeding.

Distribution and association study in copy number variation of KCNJ12 gene across four Chinese cattle populations.

Copy number variation is a large genome variation which usually happens in the noncoding-region, and it may occur at the locus associated with the functional gene to further influence the phenotype. Potassium inwardly-rectifying channel, subfamily J 12 (KCNJ12) gene expressed widely in cardiomyocytes and neurons, plays an important role in tumor therapy and muscle movement regulation. In this study, we detected the distribution of CNVs for KCNJ12 gene in 404 individuals belonging to four Chinese cattle breeds (NY, JX, JA and GF).

Exploring genotype-phenotype relationships of the gene on growth traits in beef cattle.

Cellular retinoic acid binding protein 2 () is essential to myoblast differentiation. However, there was no report about the function of gene in cattle. This study explored the association of gene polymorphisms with growth traits in cattle breeds by several methods, such as DNA sequencing, PCR, PCR-RFLP and forced PCR-RFLP.

Integrating CNVs into meta-QTL identified GBP4 as positional candidate for adult cattle stature.

Copy number variation (CNV) of DNA sequences, functionally significant but yet fully ascertained, is believed to confer considerable increments in unexplained heritability of quantitative traits. Identification of phenotype-associated CNVs (paCNVs) therefore is a pressing need in CNV studies to speed up their exploitation in cattle breeding programs. Here, we provided a new avenue to achieve this goal that is to project the published CNV data onto meta-quantitative trait loci (meta-QTL) map which connects causal genes with phenotypes.

Interleukin-4- and NACHT, LRR and PYD domains-containing protein 3-independent mechanisms of alum enhanced T helper type 2 responses on basophils.

Aluminium hydroxide (alum), the most widely used adjuvant in human and animal vaccines, has long been known to promote T helper type 2 (Th2) responses and Th2-associated humoral responses, but the mechanisms have remained poorly understood. In this study, we explored whether alum is able to directly modulate antigen-presenting cells to enhance their potency for Th2 polarization. We found that alum treatment of dendritic cells failed to show any Th2-promoting activities.

IL-4-Producing Dendritic Cells Induced during Schistosoma japonica Infection Promote Th2 Cells via IL-4-Dependent Pathway.

Although dendritic cells (DCs) have been widely demonstrated to play essential roles in initiation of Th2 responses in helminth infections and allergic reactions, the mechanisms remain uncertain largely because DCs do not produce IL-4. In present investigation, we have uncovered a novel subset of DCs from mice infected with Th2-provoking pathogens Schistosoma japonica, which independently promoted Th2 cells via IL-4-dependent pathway. These DCs contained similar levels of IL-4 mRNA and higher levels of IL-12p40 mRNA comparing to basophils, correlating to their Th2-promoting and Th1-promoting dual polarization capacities.

[Dynamic changes in professional and non-professional antigen presenting cells in the spleen from mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum].

Unlabelled: OBJECTIVE; To observe the changes in various dendritic cell (DC) subsets, macrophages, basophils, eosinophils and mast cells in mouse spleen before and after Schistosoma japonicum infection induced Th2 response.

Methods: C57BL6 mice were infected with 20 S. japonicum cercariae via abdominal skin.