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Two new termite-pathogenic species, Ophiocordycepsglobiperitheciata and O.longistipes, are described from Yunnan Province, China. Six-locus (ITS, nrSSU, nrLSU, tef-1α, rpb1 and rpb2) phylogenetic analyses in combination with morphological observations were employed to characterize these two species. Phylogenetically, O.globiperitheciata is most closely related to Hirsutellacryptosclerotium and O.communis, whereas O.longistipes shares a sister relationship with O.fusiformis. However, O.globiperitheciata differs from H.cryptosclerotium by parasitizing Blattodea and producing clavate, unbifurcated stromata. Ophiocordycepsglobiperitheciata is distinguished from O.communis by multiple stromata, shorter asci and ascospores. Ophiocordycepslongistipes differs from O.fusiformis in producing larger stromata, perithecia, asci and ascospores, as well as smaller citriform or oval conidia. Morphological descriptions of the two new species and a dichotomous key to the 19 termite-pathogenic Ophiocordyceps species are presented.

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BACKGROUND: Clinical nursing teachers play a critical role in nursing education, and their engagement is important to ensure the quality of clinical teaching. PURPOSE: To describe the level of engagement and determine the relationships among organizational support, psychological capital, and engagement among clinical nursing teachers. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 246 clinical nursing teachers, from 4 teaching hospitals in China, using a self-report questionnaire. The questionnaire measured organizational support, psychological capital, and work engagement. RESULTS: Clinical nursing teachers reported a medium level of engagement in teaching. Both organizational support and psychological capital had positive effects on teachers' engagement. Psychological capital partially mediated the relationship between organizational support and engagement. CONCLUSIONS: Measures to improve organizational support and psychological capital are essential to enhance the engagement among clinical nursing teachers.

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Biodegradable fibers have been widely developed for advanced textile fields, but their practical applications are limited by large plastic deformation. To solve this problem, we developed a solvent-free melt spinning method to prepare poly(butylene succinate)/microcrystalline cellulose (PBS/MCC) composite monofilaments. The high modulus and rigidity of MCC limit PBS plastic deformation and the in-situ formed hydrogen bonds between MCC and amorphous PBS improved MCC dispersion and led to the formation of rigid MCC physical crosslink points. The composite monofilaments with 10-25 wt% of MCC after multi-stage and high-ratio hot stretching showed a double yielding behavior and microelastic response, indicating the permanent deformation resistance of the composite monofilaments under small deformation. Moreover, the addition of MCC improved the biodegradability of the composite monofilaments after 60 days buried in soil. Therefore, our study provides a design strategy of microelastic composite monofilaments for maintaining dimensional stability during use and accelerating degradation during waste.

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In contrast to conventional digital images, high-dynamic-range (HDR) images have a broader range of intensity between the darkest and brightest regions to capture more details in a scene. Such images are produced by fusing images with different exposure values (EVs) for the same scene. Most existing multi-scale exposure fusion (MEF) algorithms assume that the input images are multi-exposed with small EV intervals. However, thanks to emerging spatially multiplexed exposure technology that can capture an image pair of short and long exposure simultaneously, it is essential to deal with two-exposure image fusion. To bring out more well-exposed contents, we generate a more helpful intermediate virtual image for fusion using the proposed Optimized Adaptive Gamma Correction (OAGC) to have better contrast, saturation, and well-exposedness. Fusing the input images with the enhanced virtual image works well even though both inputs are underexposed or overexposed, which other state-of-the-art fusion methods could not handle. The experimental results show that our method performs favorably against other state-of-the-art image fusion methods in generating high-quality fusion results.

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A novel non-contact satellite for drag-free and attitude control is proposed in this paper. The non-contact satellite is separated into a payload module and a service module by non-contact Lorentz actuators. Instead of thrusters, the non-contact Lorentz actuators are used to exerted precise forces and torques, enabling drag-free and attitude control of the payload module, while the service module is designed to track the payload module to avoid collision. On the basis of this new design, the dynamics of drag-free and attitude control can be precisely modeled. Accordingly, a hierarchical control algorithm, consisting of an EKF-based estimation and rejection of environmental acceleration of payload module, attitude control of payload module, minimum norm allocation of non-contact Lorentz actuators, as well as collaborative control of service module, is systematically designed. A numerical simulation is then conducted to demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed design.

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OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression and clinical significance of mismatch repair genes hMLH1 and hMSH2 in sporadic colorectal carcinoma tissues. METHODS: The expression of hMLH1 and hMSH2 proteins was detected in the 63 sporadic colorectal carcinoma samples by immunohistochemical staining, including tumor tissue, adjacent tissue at 3 cm from the carcinoma, and normal tissue at 10 cm away from the tumor. RESULTS: The positive rate of hMLH1 protein expression in the 63 normal colorectal tissues, adjacent tissues and sporadic colorectal carcinoma tissues was 95.2%, 85.7% and 81.0%, respectively. The positive rate of hMLH1 protein expression was significantly lower in the tumor than in normal colorectal tissues (P < 0.05). The positive rate of hMSH2 protein in the 63 normal colorectal tissues, adjacent tissues and sporadic colorectal carcinoma tissues were 76.2%, 66.7% and 52.4%, respectively. The positive rate of hMSH2 protein expression was significantly lower in the tumor than in normal colorectal tissues (P < 0.01). The positive rate of hMLH1 protein expression was significantly higher in the tumor tissue of patients aged younger than 60 years (100%) than that in patients ≥ 60 years (75.0%, P < 0.05). The positive rate of hMLH1 protein expression in the tumor tissue accompanied by lymphatic metastasis was 50.0%, significantly lower than that (93.3%) in tumors without lymphatic metastasis (P < 0.05). The positive rate of hMSH2 protein expression in the tumor tissue of patients aged younger than 60 years was 80.0%, significantly higher than that (43.8%) in the cases ≥ 60 years (P < 0.05). The positive rate of hMSH2 protein expression in the tumor tissues with invasion reaching to the intestinal serosa (61.5%) was significantly higher than that (37.5%) in the tumors invading to submucosa or muscular layer (P < 0.05). There was a positive correlation between the expressions of hMLH1 and hMSH2 proteins in the sporadic colorectal carcinomas. CONCLUSION: There is a certain loss of expression of hMLH1 and hMSH2 proteins in sporadic colorectal carcinoma, and is correlated with the age of patients, lymphatic metastasis and different depth of cancer invasion. HMLH1 and hMSH2 may be used as a useful laboratory marker in clinical judgement of occurrence and development of sporadic colorectal carcinoma.

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OBJECTIVE: To determine the burden of enteric fever through trends in morbidity and mortality, bacterial species and antimicrobial resistance in Guangxi, a southern, subtropical, coastal province of China with a disproportionally large burden of enteric fever. METHODS: Data on morbidity and mortality caused by enteric fever between 1994 and 2004 were extracted from the Guangxi Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Laboratory-based surveillance and outbreak investigations were integrated with reports of notifiable infectious diseases to estimate the bacterial species-specific incidence of enteric fever. To adjust for underreporting, survey data were collected from three prefectures that represent the hyper-, moderate- and low-endemic regions of Guangxi province. FINDINGS: In Guangxi province, enteric fever incidence rate varied over the study period, with a peak of 13.5 cases per 100 000 population in 1995 and a low of 6.5 in 2003. The disease occurred most frequently during the summer and autumn months and in the group aged 10-49 years. The incidence of enteric fever varied by region within Guangxi province. During the 11-year period covered by the study, 61 outbreaks of enteric fever were reported, and Salmonella paratyphi A (SPA) became the predominant causative agent in the province. CONCLUSION: Prospective studies may provide a better understanding of the reason for the shifting epidemiology of enteric fever in Guangxi province. Given the emergence of resistance to first- and second-line antimicrobials for the treatment of enteric fever, a bivalent vaccine against both SPA and S. typhi would facilitate for disease control.

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OBJECTIVE: To assess the safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of group A and C meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine (A/C MPV) in response to an outbreak of group C meningococcal disease. METHODS: A vaccination campaign with A/C MPV was prompted 6 weeks after the use of group A MPV in Laibin city, Guangxi, where an outbreak of group C meningococcal meningitis occurred in 2002. Vaccinees were observed for local and systemic reactions after the vaccination and followed up for the meningococcal disease for 5 years. Blood samples were collected from 71 people in the epidemic and 43 in the non-epidemic areas before and 1 month after the vaccination and examined by ELISA to detect IgG antibodies to group A and C polysaccharides. RESULTS: The vaccination coverage was 97%. No significant adverse reactions were observed. The positive rates of group C antibodies after vaccination was between 97.67% and 100% among the populations in the epidemic and non-epidemic areas, as well as among those negative and positive for group C antibodies prior to the vaccination. The geometric mean anti-C concentrations ranged 30.81 microg/ml to 37.44 microg/ml, showing no significant difference between groups. The incidence rate of meningococcal disease in students with timely immunization (218.58/100,000) dropped by 69.02%, when compared to that in those with delayed immunization (705.72/100,000). No clinical cases were identified during the follow-up period of 15,760 person-years. CONCLUSION: The vaccination campaign with the Chinese group A/C MPV seemed successful in controlling the group C meningococcal outbreak. The vaccine was shown to be safe even administered after the group A vaccine only 6 weeks apart. It could induce high levels of antibodies in vulnerable population and significantly increase antibody levels in seropositive individuals, thus providing a protection of at least 5 years.

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Using artificial insemination, 100 female quails were crossed with 10 male chickens. The eggs were collected and hatched in the same incubator. The sex of live hybrid embryos from 66 to 120 hatch hours was determined using multiply PCR of Wpkci. Total 300 male and female embryos at various hatch times were sampled and the relative mRNA abundance of ER, bcl-2, and p53 in the embryos was detected by RT-PCR using beta-actin as the internal standard. The effects of ER, bcl-2, and p53 on the early embryonic development for hybrids between chicken and quail were analyzed. The results showed ER mRNA expression of female hybrids were higher than male hybrids from 66 to 84 hatch hours with a highly significant difference (P<0.01), which indicated that the sex differentiation of hybrids was perhaps happened between 66 to 84 h of embryo stage. The obvious sequential expression of bcl-2 and p53 in the embryonic development indicated that the bcl-2 and p53 genes had an important effect on the development of the hybrid embryos.

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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety of a group A + C meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine as part of a phase IV clinical trial. METHODS: The study area was divided into 108 clusters according to the principle of cluster randomization, stratified and paired sampling methods. 54 out of 108 clusters served as observation groups were administered A + C vaccine, while the rest 54 groups were administered Vi polysaccharide vaccine. An adverse event surveillance system was established to monitor the adverse events following the vaccination campaign. Identical form and methods were used for data collection to investigate the adverse events following the vaccination of both A+ C vaccine and Vi vaccine. RESULTS: 34,543 people were vaccinated, including 18,167 of whom received A + C vaccine, while the other 16,376 received Vi vaccine. The rates of immediate injection reaction and unsolicited non-serious adverse events from A + C vaccine group were 0.44% and 0.38% while of Vi vaccine group were 0.79% and 0.73% respectively. At the solicited adverse event survey on 3-day-post-vaccination, 1239 vaccinees were followed-up including 771 received A + C vaccine and 468 received Vi vaccine. The local injection reaction rate of A + C vaccine group on the 1st day was significantly higher (X2 = 13.98, P = 0.0002) than that of Vi vaccine group. Neither the local injection reaction rate nor the system reaction rate between both groups was significantly different on 2nd and 3rd day, post vaccination. It was not statistically different when comparing fever onset rate between those who received vaccine and those who did not, in each vaccine group. There were no serious adverse events observed. CONCLUSION: Results showed that the side effects of A + C vaccine and the Vi vaccine were mild and safe for vaccination campaigns targeting on populations at different age.

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OBJECTIVE: To describe the design and application of cluster randomized controlled method on typhoid Vi vaccine trial, and to assess the effect of implementation. METHODS: Simple size calculation of cluster-randomized trial was used to determine the sample size of the two groups and a vaccination campaign was conducted. The study group was given typhoid Vi vaccine and the control group was given meningococcal A vaccine. RESULTS: According to sample size calculation, a total sample of 96,121 participants was required and the study areas were divided into 108 clusters. In practice, 53 study clusters with 44,054 participants and 54 control clusters with 48,422 participants were stratified and matched according to size, location (urban or rural), characteristics (school, department, factory, demography) were randomized respectively. Confounding factors of two groups including age, sex, resident area, income, level of education were compared. It was found that the ratio of all confounding factors between the two groups were comparable and balanced. CONCLUSION: Confounding factors can be better controlled between study group and the control group by applying cluster-randomized method on vaccine trail which enabled the intervention to be more scientifically evaluated; The implementation of cluster randomization trial was simple and easy to be accepted.

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BACKGROUND: One of the goals of this study was to learn the coverage, safety and logistics of a mass vaccination campaign against typhoid fever in children and adults using locally produced typhoid Vi polysaccharide (PS) and group A meningococcal PS vaccines in southern China. METHODS: The vaccination campaign targeted 118,588 persons in Hechi, Guangxi Province, aged between 5 to 60 years, in 2003. The study area was divided into 107 geographic clusters, which were randomly allocated to receive one of the single-dose parenteral vaccines. All aspects regarding vaccination logistics, feasibility and safety were documented and systematically recorded. Results of the logistics, feasibility and safety are reported. RESULTS: The campaign lasted 5 weeks and the overall vaccination coverage was 78%. On average, the 30 vaccine teams gave immunizations on 23 days. Vaccine rates were higher in those aged < or = 15 years (90%) than in adolescents and young adults (70%). Planned mop-up activities increased the coverage by 17%. The overall vaccine wastage was 11%. The cold chain was maintained and documented. 66 individuals reported of adverse events out of all vaccinees, where fever (21%), malaise (19%) and local redness (19%) were the major symptoms; no life-threatening event occurred. Three needle-sharp events were reported. CONCLUSION: The mass immunization proved feasible and safe, and vaccine coverage was high. Emphasis should be placed on: injection safety measures, community involvement and incorporation of mop-up strategies into any vaccination campaign. School-based and all-age Vi mass immunizations programs are potentially important public health strategies for prevention of typhoid fever in high-risk populations in southern China.

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OBJECTIVE: To characterize the incidence, epidemiologic features, etiologic agents and sequelae of bacterial meningitis in children under 5 years of age in Nanning, Guangxi. METHODS: A population-based surveillance was conducted to evaluate children with signs and symptoms of meningitis. All hospitals, township health centers and village clinics in the surveillance area were structured to participate in the case referral and evaluation. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood specimens were obtained and processed using standardized microbiologic methods. RESULTS: During the 26-month surveillance period, among the children under 5 years old, a total of 1272 cases who met the screening criteria of meningitis were studied. 265 of 1272 cases were identified as clinically diagnosed meningitis, with an incidence rate of 86.36 per 100 000 population. The annual incidence rate under the 38 cases of confirmed bacterial meningitis appeared to be 12.38/100 000. Staphylococcus species accounted for the largest proportion of laboratory-confirmed bacterial meningitis, followed by E. coli and S. pneumoniae. The highest attack rate occurred in neonates < 1 month, followed by children aged 1 - 12 months in the confirmed patients. Meningitis caused by Sp and Hi mainly occurred in children aged 1 - 12 months. All cases of meningitis due to Hi and Sp were children aged 1 - 24 months. 13.16% and 0.00% of the cases survived with complications and sequelae, and the case-fatality rate was 18.42%. 40 bacterial isolates were identified from 1193 blood cultures and 23 from 1211 cerebrospinal fluid samples, but no Neisseria meningitidis was found. CONCLUSION: Meningitis due to Hi was first confirmed in Guangxi with the incidence of 0.98 per 100 000 population. The annual incidence rate of confirmed bacterial meningitis was 12.38 per 100 000, which was considered an important public health problem in children. Staphylococci was the predominant pathogen in confirmed bacterial meningitis.

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OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the expression and regulation of vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by sera from severely burned patients. DESIGN: Controlled laboratory study. SETTINGS: Research laboratory in a university hospital. SUBJECTS: HUVECs. INTERVENTIONS: HUVECs were incubated with serum from eight healthy controls and eight patients with thermal injuries of >50% total body surface area. The experiment was repeated after pretreatment with pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, an inhibitory effect on nuclear factor-kappaB activation, SB203580, a specific p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor, and PD98059, a mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase inhibitor. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Protein and messenger RNA expression of VCAM-1 was measured by flow cytometry and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction respectively. Soluble VCAM-1 level in HUVECs culture supernatants was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Sera from severely burned patients showed a stimulatory effect on VCAM-1 messenger RNA levels and an increased VCAM-1 expression on the endothelial cell surfaces. The soluble form of VCAM-1 molecules was also elevated by the stimulation of burn sera. In vitro peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes adherence to HUVECs incubated with burn sera was significantly increased compared with those incubated with control sera. Finally, these events were significantly inhibited by pretreatment with antioxidants pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate or SB203580, whereas PD98059 had no significant effect. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that sera from severely burned patients induced up-regulation of VCAM-1 expressions in HUVECs, and this process might be largely dependent on oxidant-mediated nuclear factor-kappaB activation and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways.

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