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Regions in Asia with a high population density had a higher CD and UC incidence. Coastal areas within China had higher IBD incidence. With increasing urbanization and a shift from rural areas to cities, disease incidence may continue to climb in Asia.

Nonmuscle myosin IIA and p120-catenin control E-cadherin–mediated cell–cell adhesions essential for hESC pluripotency and long-term survival.

Efficient derivation of large-scale motor neurons (MNs) from human pluripotent stem cells is central to the understanding of MN development, modelling of MN disorders in vitro and development of cell-replacement therapies. Here we develop a method for rapid (20 days) and highly efficient (B70%) differentiation of mature and functional MNs from human pluripotent stem cells by tightly modulating neural patterning temporally at a previously undefined primitive neural progenitor stage. This method also allows high-yield (4250%) MN production in chemically defined adherent cultures. Furthermore, we show that Islet-1 is essential for formation of mature and functional human MNs, but, unlike its mouse counterpart, does not regulate cell survival or suppress the V2a interneuron fate. Together, our discoveries improve the strategy for MN derivation, advance our understanding of human neural specification and MN development, and provide invaluable tools for human developmental studies, drug discovery and regenerative medicine.

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Quinolone resistance is an emerging problem in China. To investigate the prevalence of the plasmidmediated quinolone resistance genes qnr and aac(6)-Ib-cr, a total of 265 clinical isolates of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Citrobacter freundii, and Enterobacter cloacae with ciprofloxacin MICs of >0.25 g/ml were screened at nine teaching hospitals in China. The qnrA, qnrB, qnrS, and aac(6)-Ib genes were detected by PCR. The aac(6)-Ib-cr gene was further identified by digestion with BtsCI and/or direct sequencing. The qnr gene was present in significantly smaller numbers of isolates with cefotaxime MICs of <2 g/ml than isolates with higher MICs (>2.0 g/ml) (20.6% and 42.1%, respectively; P < 0.05). aac(6)-Ib-cr was present in 17.0% of the isolates tested, and 7.9% of the isolates carried both the qnr and the aac(6)-Ib-cr genes. Among the isolates with cefotaxime MICs of >2.0 g/ml, qnr and aac(6)-Ib-cr were present in 65.7% and 8.6% of E. cloacae isolates, respectively; 65.5% and 21.8% of K. pneumoniae isolates, respectively; 63.3% and 26.7% of C. freundii isolates, respectively; and 6.5% and 16.9% of E. coli isolates, respectively. The 20 transconjugants showed 16-to 128-fold increases in ciprofloxacin MICs, 14 showed 16-to 2,000-fold increases in cefotaxime MICs, and 5 showed 8-to 32-fold increases in cefoxitin MICs relative to those of the recipient due to the cotransmission of bla CTX-M-14 , bla CTX-M-3 , bla DHA-1 , bla SHV-2 , and bla SHV-12 with the qnr and aac(6)-Ib-cr genes. Southern hybridization analysis showed that these genes were located on large plasmids of different sizes (53 to 193 kb). These findings indicate the high prevalence of qnr and aac(6)-Ib-cr in members of the family Enterobacteriaceae and the widespread dissemination of multidrug resistance in China.Plasmids carrying qnr genes have been found to mediate quinolone resistance (8). These genes encode pentapeptide repeat proteins that block the action of ciprofloxacin on bacterial DNA gyrase and topoisomerase . The plasmid-borne qnr genes currently comprise three families, qnrA, qnrB, and qnrS, whose nucleotide sequences differ from each other by 40% or more. The geographical distribution of qnrA genes is known to be wide (10), but that of the newer qnr types, qnrB (6) and qnrS (5), have seldom reported within China. Recently, a new mechanism of transferable quinolone resistance was reported: enzymatic inactivation of certain quinolones. The cr variant of aac(6Ј)-Ib encodes an aminoglycoside acetyltransferase that confers reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin by N-acetylation of its piperazinyl amine (16).Plasmids harboring qnrA may also encode extended-spectrum ␤-lactamases (ESBLs). Previous studies showed that qnr-positive strains frequently expressed ESBLs, such as CTX-M-15 and 15). No previous nationwide survey has evaluated clinical isolates of Enterobacteriaceae with reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin and extendedspectrum cephalosporins in China for the presence of qnrA, qnrB, qnrS, and aac(6Ј)-Ib-cr. Therefore, we in...

We confirmed that NUDT15 c.415C>T, c.36_37insGGAGTC, and c.52G>A variants were risk factors for thiopurine-induced leukopenia. Combined detection of the 3 variants could increase the predictive sensitivity of thiopurine-induced leukopenia and help to distinguish early leukopenia in heterozygote of c.415C>T in Chinese patients with IBD. Treatment monitoring by NUDT15 variants may be promising in individualized therapy.

Aims & BackgroundsAlthough inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are emerging and increasing in China, epidemiologic data are rarely available. This study was to investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of IBD in Northern China.MethodsThis is a prospective, population-based study of incidence of IBD in Daqing,Heilongjiang province of Northern China from March 1, 2012 to February 28, 2013. All incident patients with IBD were clinically identified by IBD specialist group from five main General Hospitals covering the healthcare service for 1,343,364 residents in the urban areas of Daqing. IBD cases included in this study were followed-up for three months for diagnosis confirmation.ResultsA total of 27 new IBD cases including 25 cases of ulcerative colitis (UC) and 2 cases of Crohn's disease (CD) were identified. The population at risk was 1,343,364 person years. Age-adjusted incidence for total IBD, CD and UC were 1.77, 0.13, and 1.64 per 100,000population, respectively. A male predominance was found in CD patients (male to female ratio was 2∶0). In contrast, no obvious gender predominance was found in UC patients (male to female ratio was 1∶1.1). CD patients were diagnosed at an average age of 39.5 years. The main disease phenotypes of UC were distal colitis with a 24% of proctitis and 56% of left-sided colitis. The mean diagnostic age of UC patients was 48.9 years.ConclusionsThis is the first report on the incidence of IBD in the Northern Chinese population. A lower incidence of IBD, similar male predominance for CD, similar disease phenotype of UC, and lower disease activity was observed in Daqing compared to that in Southern China.