Schistosomiasis, also called bilharziasis, is a neglected tropical disease induced by Schistosoma spp. that causes hundreds of millions of infections. Although Schistosoma ova-induced granulomas commonly cause inflammation, hyperplasia, ulceration, micro abscess formation, and polyposis, the role of the egg granuloma on the gut microbiome remains unclear. To explore the role, gut microbial communities in mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum were surveyed. Female C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice were exposed to cercariae of S. japonicum for 45 and 65 days and then sacrificed. Intestinal contents and feces were collected, DNA was extracted, and high-throughput 16S rRNA gene-based pyrosequencing was used to provide a comparative analysis of gut microbial diversity. The intestinal mucosal tissues were also examined. Histopathologic analysis demonstrated that the basic structure of the colonic mucosa was damaged by ova-induced granuloma. Regarding the gut microbiome, 2,578,303 good-quality sequences were studied and assigned to 25,278 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) at a threshold of 97% similarity. The average number of OTUs for C57BL/6 and BALB/c were 545 and 530, respectively. At the phylum level, intestinal microbial communities were dominated by Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia. Infection with S. japonicum modified bacterial richness in the fecal associated microbiota. Exposure significantly modified bacterial community composition among different groups. At the phylogenetic levels, LEfSe analysis revealed that several bacterial taxa were significantly associated with the S. japonicum-infected mice. The present results suggest that egg granulomas in the intestine influence differentiation of the gut microbial community under pathophysiological conditions. This result suggests that intestinal microbiome-based strategies should be considered for early diagnosis, clinical treatment, and prognosis evaluation of schistosomiasis.

Mastitis, one of the most costly diseases in dairy ruminants, is an inflammation of the mammary gland caused by pathogenic infection. The mechanisms of adaptive immunity against pathogens in mastitis have not been fully elucidated. To investigate T helper cell-mediated adaptive immune responses, we established a mastitis model by challenge with an inoculum of 4 × 106 colony-forming units of Staphylococcus aureus in the mammary gland of lactating mice, followed by quantification of bacterial burden and histological analysis. The development of mastitis was accompanied by a significant increase in both Th17 and Th1 cells in the mammary gland. Moreover, the relative expression of genes encoding cytokines and transcription factors involved in the differentiation and function of these T helper cells, including Il17, Rorc, Tgfb, Il1b, Il23, Ifng, Tbx21, and Il12, was greatly elevated in the infected mammary gland. IL-17 is essential for neutrophil recruitment to infected mammary gland via CXC chemokines, whereas the excessive IL-17 production contributes to tissue damage in mastitis. In addition, a shift in T helper cell polarization toward Th2 and Treg cells was observed 5 days post-infection, and the mRNA expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine Il10 was markedly increased at day 7 post-infection. These results indicate that immune clearance of Staphylococcus aureus in mastitis is facilitated by the enrichment of Th17, Th1 and Th2 cells in the mammary gland mediated by pro-inflammatory cytokine production, which is tightly regulated by Treg cells and the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10.

Subclinical mastitis, a costly disease for the dairy industry, is usually caused by intramammary bacterial infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of and pathogens involved in subclinical mastitis in dairy goats in China. A total of 683 dairy goats in the main breeding areas of China were selected, and milk samples were collected. Out of these, 313 (45.82 %) goats were detected distinct or strong positive for subclinical mastitis by using California mastitis test. Among these positive goats, 209 milk samples were used to identify the causing agents by a multiplex PCR assay, and results were listed as follows: coagulase-negative staphylococci (59.52 %), Staphylococcus aureus (15.24 %), Escherichia coli (11.43 %), and Streptococcus spp. (10.95 %). In conclusion, subclinical mastitis is a highly prevalent disease in dairy goats in China, and coagulase-negative staphylococci are the predominant pathogens.

BackgroundOrdinary screening of transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) among blood donors is essential for blood transfusion. Although there is several TTIs studies focus on human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B and C viruses, and Treponema pallidum infections in China, it is no data to illustrate any firm conclusion from Shiyan City, Central China. It aims to verify the seroprevalence of TTIs among blood donors at Shiyan.MethodsA retrospective analysis of blood donors’ information was conducted for the presence of HIV, HBV, HCV and T. pallidum. Logistic regression analysis was used to demonstrate risk factors including age, gender and occupation associated with them. The variation tendency in seroprevalence of these TTIs over the study period was evaluated by Cochran-Armitage trend test.ResultsOf 211 639 blood donors, 2 858 (1.35 %) had serological evidence of TTIs. The seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV and T. pallidum were 0.08 %, 0.51 %, 0.20 % and 0.57 %, respectively. However, the co-infection prevalence of TTIs has not been detected. The HIV seropositivity significantly increased among female donors (OR = 1.63, P < 0.001) and farmers (OR = 2.02, P = 0.020). Significantly increased HBV seropositivity was only observed framers (OR = 1.87, P <0.001) compared to workers. Analogously, significantly increased HCV seropositivity was observed among farmers (OR = 2.59, P < 0.001), students (OR = 2.43, P < 0.001), merchants (OR = 1.70, P = 0.014) and others (OR = 1.78, P =0.001). The T. pallidum seroprevalence was notably increased among female (OR = 1.54, P < 0.001), and farmers (OR = 1.70, P <0.001). Moreover, significantly increasing trends of HIV (Z = −6.88, P < 0.01), HBV (Z = −4.52, P < 0.01), HCV (Z = −4.16, P < 0.01) and T. pallidum (Z = −1.36, P < 0.01) seropositivity were observed over the study period.ConclusionsIt originally offers a substantial prevalence of TTIs among blood donors at Shiyan, Central China. Severe blood donor selection and all-inclusive screening of blood are highly recommended. It might be helpful for developing and updating guidance for blood safety.Trial registrationRetrospectively registered.

No abstract

BackgroundIntrahepatic hepatitis B virus (HBV) covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) is the original template for HBV replication. The persistence of cccDNA is responsible for the recurrence of HBV infection. The detection of cccDNA can help the development of new antiviral drugs against HBV replication links, and reduce the resistance and recurrence as well as to discover extrahepatic HBV infection. In situ polymerase chain reaction (IS-PCR) can be used to determine the distribution and localization of cccDNA in liver tissues, but it is hampered by its low sensitivity and specificity. We developed a novel method to detect HBV cccDNA using rolling circle amplification (RCA) combined with IS-PCR.MethodsBiopsy liver tissues were obtained from 26 patients with HBV infection, including 10 chronic hepatitis B (CHB), 6 liver cirrhosis (LC) and 10 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Four pairs of primers were designed to mediating RCA for the first round amplification of HBV cccDNA specifically. The liver tissue sections from patients were treated by plasmid-safe ATP-dependent DNase (PSAD) prior to RCA. After RCA, HBV cccDNA was further amplified by a pair of selective primers labeled digoxigenin that target the gap region between the two direct repeat regions (DR1 and DR2) of the virus via IS-PCR.ResultsHBVcccDNA was expressed and located in hepatocyte nucleus in 19 patients (73.07%). Compared with the IS-PCR, the introduction of RCA increase the limit of detection. RCA combined with IS-PCR yielded strong positive signals in HCC liver tissue in spite of low copy number cccDNA (2 copies of target sequence per cell), meanwhile, no positive signal was detected via negative control.ConclusionsRCA combined with IS-PCR is an effective and practicable method which could detect the presence of low copy number of cccDNA sensitively and specifically, and reflect the relationship between cccDNA expression level and liver tissue pathological characteristics.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-014-0608-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background:With the aging of the population and the use of video terminals, the incidence of Conjunctivochalasis is getting higher, and related research is increasing. So our research aimed to use visualization software to display the research trends of Conjunctivochalasis.Methods:Retrieved the document (from 1986 to 2017) of conjunctivochalasis in the web of science core collection, analyzed by Citespace V.Results:The main language is English. Article is the key type of document. The average annual number of publications in the time period from 2008 to 2017 was 11.6, which was significantly higher than the period from 1994 to 2007, indicating that the total number of publications has been continuously developed. The law of frequency quoted showed an upward trend yearly. Furthermore, we can find out that Japan, USA, and People's Republic of China were the most productive countries, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine was the most prolific institution, Shanghai Jiaotong University is a key institution. The average IF of journals was 3.0508. Cornea and Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology are core journals. Tseng SCG is the most active scholar. All cited author contributed to 5 classifications. Di PMA paper is a classic literature. Huang YK paper can be regarded as the frontier document. All cited-reference dedicated to 7 categories. Conjunctivochalasis is the hot topic, related to observe indicators, risk factors, treatment, graded diagnosis of conjunctivochalasis, etc. In addition, fibroblast was research hotspot. At length, the cluster map of keyword was divided into 7 categories.Conclusion:This research will help relevant clinicians and researchers to accurately and quickly grasp the research trends in the field, and continue to conduct new research on the basis.

Trichinellosis caused by Trichinella spiralis is a worldwide food-borne parasitic zoonosis. Several approaches have been performed to control T. spiralis infection, including veterinary vaccines, which contribute to improving animal health and increasing public health by preventing the transmission of trichinellosis from animals to humans. In the past several decades, many vaccine studies have been performed in effort to control T. spiralis infection by reducing the muscle larvae and adult worms burden. Various candidate antigens, selected from excretory-secretory (ES) products and different functional proteins involved in the process of establishing infection have been investigated in rodent or swine models to explore their protective effect against T. spiralis infection. Moreover, different types of vaccines have been developed to improve the protective effect against T. spiralis infection in rodent or swine models, such as live attenuated vaccines, natural antigen vaccines, recombinant protein vaccines, DNA vaccines, and synthesized epitope vaccines. However, few studies of T. spiralis vaccines have been performed in pigs, and future research should focus on exploring the protective effect of different types of vaccines in swine models. Here, we present an overview of the strategies for the development of effective T. spiralis vaccines and summarize the factors of influencing the effectiveness of vaccines. We also discuss several propositions in improving the effectiveness of vaccines and may provide a route map for future T. spiralis vaccines development.