BackgroundTraditional Chinese eye exercises of acupoints involve acupoint self-massage. These have been advocated as a compulsory measure to reduce ocular fatigue, as well as to retard the development of myopia, among Chinese school children. This study evaluated the impact of these eye exercises among Chinese urban children.Methods409 children (195 males, 47.7%), aged 11.1 ± 3.2 (range 6–17) years, from the Beijing Myopia Progression Study (BMPS) were recruited. All had completed the eye exercise questionnaire, the convergence insufficiency symptom survey (CISS), and a cycloplegic autorefraction. Among these, 395 (96.6%) performed the eye exercises of acupoints. Multiple logistic regressions for myopia and multiple linear regressions for the CISS score (after adjusting for age, gender, average parental refractive error, and time spent doing near work and outdoor activity) for the different items of the eye exercises questionnaire were performed.ResultsOnly the univariate odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for “seriousness of attitude” towards performing the eye exercises of acupoints (0.51, 0.33-0.78) showed a protective effect towards myopia. However, none of the odds ratios were significant after adjusting for the confounding factors. The univariate and multiple β coefficients for the CISS score were -2.47 (p = 0.002) and -1.65 (p = 0.039), -3.57 (p = 0.002) and -2.35 (p = 0.042), and -2.40 (p = 0.003) and -2.29 (p = 0.004), for attitude, speed of exercise, and acquaintance with acupoints, respectively, which were all significant.ConclusionsThe traditional Chinese eye exercises of acupoints appeared to have a modest effect on relieving near vision symptoms among Chinese urban children aged 6 to 17 years. However, no remarkable effect on reducing myopia was observed.

In the first half of winter 2020/21, China has experienced an extremely cold period across both northern and southern regions, with record-breaking low temperatures set in many stations of China. Meanwhile, a moderate La Niña event which exceeded both oceanic and atmospheric thresholds began in August 2020 and in a few months developed into its mature phase, just prior to the 2020/21 winter. In this report, the mid−high-latitude large-scale atmospheric circulation anomalies in the Northern Hemisphere, which were forced by the negative phase of Arctic Oscillation, a strengthened Siberian High, an intensified Ural High and a deepened East Asian Trough, are considered to be the direct reason for the frequent cold surges in winter 2020/21. At the same time, the synergistic effect of the warm Arctic and the cold tropical Pacific (La Niña) provided an indispensable background, at a hemispheric scale, to intensify the atmospheric circulation anomalies in middleto-high latitudes. In the end, a most recent La Niña prediction is provided and the oncoming evolution of climate is discussed for the remaining part of the 2020/21 winter for the purpose of future decision-making and early warning.

Peptides derived from N-terminal heptad repeat (NHR) of the HIV-1 gp41 are generally poor inhibitors of HIV-1 entry, because they tend to aggregate and do not form a trimeric coiled-coil. In this study, we have fused portions of gp41 NHR, e.g. N36 or N28, to the T4 fibritin trimerization domain, Foldon (Fd), thus constructing novel NHR trimers, designated N36Fd or N28Fd, which could be expressed in Escherichia coli cells. The purified N36Fd and N28Fd exhibited SDS-resistant trimeric coiled-coil conformation with improved ␣-helicity compared with the corresponding N-peptides. They could interact with a C-peptide (e.g. C34) to form stable six-helix bundle and possessed potent anti-HIV-1 activity against a broad spectrum of HIV-1 strains. N28Fd was effective against T20-resistant HIV-1 variants and more resistant to proteinase K compared with T20 (enfuvirtide), a C-peptide-based HIV fusion inhibitor. Therefore, N28Fd trimer has great potentials for further development as an affordable therapeutic or microbicide for treatment and prevention of HIV-1 infection.

Emerging in December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) eventually became a pandemic and has posed a tremendous threat to global public health. However, the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, remain to be determined. It has reported that a certain number of the early case clusters had a contact history with Huanan Seafood Market. Therefore, surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 within the market is of vital importance. Herein, we presented the SARS-CoV-2 detection results of 1380 samples collected from the environment and the animals within the market in early 2020. By SARS-CoV-2-specific RT-qPCR, 73 environmental samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and three live viruses were successfully isolated. The viruses from the market shared nucleotide identity of 99.980% to 99.993% with the human isolate HCoV/Wuhan/IVDC-HB-01. In contrast, no virus was detected in the animal swabs covering 18 species of animals in the market. The SARS-COV-2 nucleic acids in the positive environmental samples showed significant correlation of abundance of Homo sapiens with SARS-CoV-2. In summary, this study provided convincing evidence of the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the Huanan Seafood Market during the early stage of COVID-19 outbreak.

The membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of the HIV-1 gp41 consists of epitopes for the broadly cross-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies 2F5 and 4E10. However, antigens containing the linear sequence of these epitopes are unable to elicit potent and broad neutralizing antibody responses in vaccinated hosts, possibly because of inappropriate conformation of these epitopes. Here we designed a recombinant antigen, designated NCM, which comprises the N- and C-terminal heptad repeats that can form a six-helix bundle (6HB) core and the MPER domain of gp41. Two mutations (T569A and I675V) previously reported to expose the neutralization epitopes were introduced into NCM to generate mutants named NCM(TA), NCM(IV), and NCM(TAIV). Our results showed that NCM and its mutants could react with antibodies specific for 6HB and MPER of gp41, suggesting that these antigens are in the form of a trimer of heterodimer (i.e., 6HB) with three exposed MPER tails. Antigen with double mutations, NCM(TAIV), elicited much stronger antibody response in rabbits than immunogens with single mutation, NCM(TA) and NCM(IV), or no mutation, NCM. The purified MPER-specific antibodies induced by NCM(TAIV) exhibited broad neutralizing activity, while the purified 6HB-specific antibodies showed no detectable neutralizing activity. Our recombinant antigen design supported by an investigation of its underlying molecular mechanisms provides a strong scientific platform for the discovery of a gp41 MPER-based AIDS vaccine.

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Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, is used as a general pediatric anesthetic and anti-depressive drug. Recent studies suggest that ketamine enhances neuronal apoptosis in developing rats. The goal of this study is to explore whether ketamine could result in learning and memory impairment and neurodegeneration in adolescent rats, and if so, whether the effects of ketamine are associated with miR-214 and PTEN expression. Fifty-day-old SD rats were randomly divided into three groups receiving ketamine at 30, or 80 mg/kg, i.p. or saline for seven consecutive days. Twenty-four hours after the last treatment, learning and memory function were tested by the Morris water maze. The rats were then decapitated, and the brains were isolated for detection of neuronal apoptosis and protein PTEN expression by TUNEL and immunohistochemistry respectively. Expression levels of the miR-214 and PTEN in the hippocampus were measured by qRT-PCR and western blot analysis respectively. Ketamine administered to the adolescent rats at a dose of 80 mg/kg rather than the lower dose of 30 mg/kg caused learning and memory impairment, increased the number of apoptotic cells in the hippocampal CA1 region, cerebral cortex and subcortical region, decreased the miR-214 levels and increased PTEN protein expression in hippocampus. The results suggest that ketamine at a dose of 80 mg/kg in the adolescent rats is able to induce the learning and memory impairment and neurodegeneration, in which the down-regulation of miR-214 and high expression of PTEN protein may be involved.

BackgroundDespite the considerable experience gained thus far using endoscopic technologies, the role of total endoscopic thyroidectomy (ET) for papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) remains controversial. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the safety and effectiveness of total ET compared with conventional open thyroidectomy (OT) in PTC.MethodsA systematic search was conducted using the PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library electronic databases up to March 2018. The quality of included studies was evaluated using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. Review Manager software version 5.3 was used for the meta-analysis.ResultsTwelve studies including 2,672 patients were ultimately included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. ET was associated with longer operative time (P<0.00001), drainage time (P<0.00001) and hospital stay (P=0.03), higher transient recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) palsy rate (P=0.004) and a greater amount of drainage fluid (P<0.0001) compared with OT. Furthermore, no significant differences were detected between ET and OT in terms of retrieved lymph nodes (P=0.17), blood loss (P=0.22), transient hypocalcemia (P=0.84), permanent hypocalcemia (P=0.58), permanent RLN palsy (P=0.14), hematoma or bleeding (P=0.15) and seroma (P=0.54). In addition, the rates of tumor recurrence were comparable (P=0.18), whereas the proportions of stimulated thyroglobulin levels <1 ng/mL measured after completion of thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine therapy were less (P=0.02) in the ET than in the OT group.ConclusionET is not superior to OT in terms of operation and drainage time, amount of drainage fluid, hospital stay or transient RLN palsy, but is comparable to OT in terms of retrieved lymph nodes and permanent complications. Despite the similar tumor recurrence rates between the two approaches, the level of surgical completeness in ET may not be as good as that for OT.