[Analysis of laboratory re-examination results in Sichuan Provincial Malaria Diagnostic Reference Laboratory from 2014 to 2020]

OBJECTIVE

To re-examine the diagnosis results of reported malaria cases in Sichuan Province from 2014 to 2020, so as to assess the malaria diagnostic capability of Sichuan Provincial Malaria Diagnostic Reference Laboratory.

METHODS

The blood and blood smear samples from reported malaria cases were collected by Sichuan Provincial Malaria Diagnostic Reference Laboratory from 2014 to 2020, and subjected to re-examinations using microscopy and nested PCR assay. The re-examination results were compared.

RESULTS

A total of 1 710 samples from reported malaria cases were re-examined by Sichuan Provincial Malaria Diagnostic Reference Laboratory from 2014 to 2020, and 1 634 samples were identified positive, with a positive coincidence rate of 95.56% (1 634/1 710) and a 92.29% (1 508/1 634) total coincidence rate of the Plasmodium species. The coincidence rates with P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae and P. ovale were 99.48% (961/966), 97.07% (430/443), 83.05% (98/118) and 67.86% (19/28), respectively, and the coincidence rate was 91.81% (1 513/1 648) between microscopic and nested-PCR results.

CONCLUSIONS

The capability of microscopists remains weak at grassroot medical institutions in Sichuan Province. Further training is required among microscopists to improve the malaria surveillance capability in Sichuan Province during the post-elimination stage.

Measurement of the Absolute Branching Fraction of D_{s}^{+}→τ^{+}ν_{τ} via τ^{+}→e^{+}ν_{e}ν[over ¯]_{τ}

Using a dataset of 6.32  fb^{-1} of e^{+}e^{-} annihilation data collected with the BESIII detector at center-of-mass energies between 4178 and 4226 MeV, we have measured the absolute branching fraction of the leptonic decay D_{s}^{+}→τ^{+}ν_{τ} via τ^{+}→e^{+}ν_{e}ν[over ¯]_{τ}, and find B_{D_{s}^{+}→τ^{+}ν_{τ}}=(5.27±0.10±0.12)×10^{-2}, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The precision is improved by a factor of 2 compared to the previous best measurement. Combining with f_{D_{s}^{+}} from lattice quantum chromodynamics calculations or the |V_{cs}| from the CKMfitter group, we extract |V_{cs}|=0.978±0.009±0.012 and f_{D_{s}^{+}}=(251.1±2.4±3.0)  MeV, respectively. Combining our result with the world averages of B_{D_{s}^{+}→τ^{+}ν_{τ}} and B_{D_{s}^{+}→μ^{+}ν_{μ}}, we obtain the ratio of the branching fractions B_{D_{s}^{+}→τ^{+}ν_{τ}}/B_{D_{s}^{+}→μ^{+}ν_{μ}}=9.72±0.37, which is consistent with the standard model prediction of lepton flavor universality.

Observation of D^{0}→K_{1}(1270)^{-}e^{+}ν_{e}

Using 2.93  fb^{-1} of e^{+}e^{-} collision data taken with the BESIII detector at a center-of-mass energy of 3.773 GeV, the observation of the D^{0}→K_{1}(1270)^{-}e^{+}ν_{e} semileptonic decay is presented. The statistical significance of the decay D^{0}→K_{1}(1270)^{-}e^{+}ν_{e} is greater than 10σ. The branching fraction of D^{0}→K_{1}(1270)^{-}e^{+}ν_{e} is measured to be (1.09±0.13_{-0.16}^{+0.09}±0.12)×10^{-3}. Here, the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third originates from the assumed branching fraction of K_{1}(1270)^{-}→K^{-}π^{+}π^{-}. The fraction of longitudinal polarization in D^{0}→K_{1}(1270)^{-}e^{+}ν_{e} is determined for the first time to be 0.50±0.19_{stat}±0.08_{syst}.

First Measurement of the Absolute Branching Fraction of Λ→pμ^{-}ν[over ¯]_{μ}

The absolute branching fraction of Λ→pμ^{-}ν[over ¯]_{μ} is reported for the first time based on an e^{+}e^{-} annihilation sample of 10×10^{9}  J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector at sqrt[s]=3.097  GeV. The branching fraction is determined to be B(Λ→pμ^{-}ν[over ¯]_{μ})=[1.48±0.21(stat)±0.08(syst)]×10^{-4}, which is improved by about 30% in precision over the previous indirect measurements. Combining this result with the world average of B(Λ→pe^{-}ν[over ¯]_{e}), we obtain the ratio {[Γ(Λ→pμ^{-}ν[over ¯]_{μ})]/[Γ(Λ→pe^{-}ν[over ¯]_{e})]} to be 0.178±0.028, which agrees with the standard model prediction assuming lepton flavor universality. The asymmetry of the branching fractions of Λ→pμ^{-}ν[over ¯]_{μ} and Λ[over ¯]→p[over ¯]μ^{+}ν_{μ} is also determined, and no evidence for CP violation is found.

Study on Catalytic Oxidation, Flocculation and Sedimentation of Acidizing and Fracturing Wastewater

The acidizing and fracturing waste fluid in a wellsite in northern Shaanxi was treated by catalytic oxidation and flocculation precipitation. It investigated the effect of different coagulants and their dosage and the wastewater pH on coagulation precipitation. As for chemical oxidation experiment, it investigated the effect of oxidant dosage and reaction time on its treatment effect. The results showed that when 30% hydrogen peroxide (volume percentage) was added at the dosage of 0.3% and oxidized for 50 min, the pH was adjusted to 7.5 and 350 mg/L polyaluminum chloride (PAC) and 4 mg/L polyacrylamide were added (PAM); after processing the waste liquid, total iron, chemical oxygen demand (COD), chromaticity, and average corrosion rate were reduced from 252.75 mg/L, 3427.50 mg/L, 624.15°, and 0.1226 mm/a to 0.12 mg/L, 275.18 mg/L, 125° and 0.0217 mm/a, respectively; effective removal of iron and color, reduced COD, and controlled corrosion was achieved.

Direct Measurement of the Branching Fractions B(ψ(3686)→J/ψX) and B(ψ(3770)→J/ψX), and Observation of the State R(3760) in e^{+}e^{-}→J/ψX

We report a measurement of the observed cross sections of e^{+}e^{-}→J/ψX based on 3.21  fb^{-1} of data accumulated at energies from 3.645 to 3.891 GeV with the BESIII detector operated at the BEPCII collider. In analysis of the cross sections, we measured the decay branching fractions of B(ψ(3686)→J/ψX)=(64.4±0.6±1.6)% and B(ψ(3770)→J/ψX)=(0.5±0.2±0.1)% for the first time. The energy-dependent line shape of these cross sections cannot be well described by two Breit-Wigner (BW) amplitudes of the expected decays ψ(3686)→J/ψX and ψ(3770)→J/ψX. Instead, it can be better described with one more BW amplitude of the decay R(3760)→J/ψX. Under this assumption, we extracted the R(3760) mass M_{R(3760)}=3766.2±3.8±0.4  MeV/c^{2} , total width Γ_{R(3760)}^{tot}=22.2±5.9±1.4  MeV, and product of leptonic width and decay branching fraction Γ_{R(3760)}^{ee}B[R(3760)→J/ψX]=(79.4±85.5±11.7)  eV. The significance of the R(3760) is 5.3σ. The first uncertainties of these measured quantities are from fits to the cross sections and second systematic.

The 2021 Magnonics Roadmap

Magnonics is a budding research field in nanomagnetism and nanoscience that addresses the use of spin waves (magnons) to transmit, store, and process information. The rapid advancements of this field during last one decade in terms of upsurge in research papers, review articles, citations, proposals of devices as well as introduction of new sub-topics prompted us to present the first roadmap on magnonics. This is a collection of 22 sections written by leading experts in this field who review and discuss the current status besides presenting their vision of future perspectives. Today, the principal challenges in applied magnonics are the excitation of sub-100 nm wavelength magnons, their manipulation on the nanoscale and the creation of sub-micrometre devices using low-Gilbert damping magnetic materials and its interconnections to standard electronics. To this end, magnonics offers lower energy consumption, easier integrability and compatibility with CMOS structure, reprogrammability, shorter wavelength, smaller device features, anisotropic properties, negative group velocity, non-reciprocity and efficient tunability by various external stimuli to name a few. Hence, despite being a young research field, magnonics has come a long way since its early inception. This roadmap asserts a milestone for future emerging research directions in magnonics, and hopefully, it will inspire a series of exciting new articles on the same topic in the coming years.

Observation of a Near-Threshold Structure in the K^{+} Recoil-Mass Spectra in e^{+}e^{-}→K^{+}(D_{s}^{-}D^{*0}+D_{s}^{*-}D^{0})

We report a study of the processes of e^{+}e^{-}→K^{+}D_{s}^{-}D^{*0} and K^{+}D_{s}^{*-}D^{0} based on e^{+}e^{-} annihilation samples collected with the BESIII detector operating at BEPCII at five center-of-mass energies ranging from 4.628 to 4.698 GeV with a total integrated luminosity of 3.7  fb^{-1}. An excess of events over the known contributions of the conventional charmed mesons is observed near the D_{s}^{-}D^{*0} and D_{s}^{*-}D^{0} mass thresholds in the K^{+} recoil-mass spectrum for events collected at sqrt[s]=4.681  GeV. The structure matches a mass-dependent-width Breit-Wigner line shape, whose pole mass and width are determined as (3982.5_{-2.6}^{+1.8}±2.1)  MeV/c^{2} and (12.8_{-4.4}^{+5.3}±3.0)  MeV, respectively. The first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. The significance of the resonance hypothesis is estimated to be 5.3  σ over the contributions only from the conventional charmed mesons. This is the first candidate for a charged hidden-charm tetraquark with strangeness, decaying into D_{s}^{-}D^{*0} and D_{s}^{*-}D^{0}. However, the properties of the excess need further exploration with more statistics.

Nuclear export protein CSE1L interacts with P65 and promotes NSCLC growth via NF-κB/MAPK pathway

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is characterized with high morbidity and mortality, mainly due to frequent recurrence and metastasis. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of NSCLC tumorigenesis are largely unclear. Through data mining in the ONCOMINE and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases, the expression of CSE1L (chromosome segregation like 1 protein/CAS), an exportin, was identified to be significantly upregulated in NSCLC and positively associated with poor prognosis of patients. By use of in vitro and in vivo gain- and loss-of-function experiments, we found that CSE1L can promote NSCLC cell proliferation while inhibiting cell apoptosis. Through immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry experiments, we demonstrated that CSE1L interacted with RELA (named as P65) and affected its location in the nucleus. Moreover, we found that one of the mechanisms by which CSE1L promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis is through activating the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. In summary, our findings indicated an oncogenic role of CSE1L in NSCLC tumorigenesis.

Model-Independent Determination of the Spin of the Ω^{-} and Its Polarization Alignment in ψ(3686)→Ω^{-}Ω[over ¯]^{+}

We present an analysis of the process ψ(3686)→Ω^{-}Ω[over ¯]^{+} (Ω^{-}→K^{-}Λ, Ω[over ¯]^{+}→K^{+}Λ[over ¯], Λ→pπ^{-}, Λ[over ¯]→p[over ¯]π^{+}) based on a dataset of 448×10^{6}  ψ(3686) decays collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII electron-positron collider. The helicity amplitudes for the process ψ(3686)→Ω^{-}Ω[over ¯]^{+} and the decay parameters of the subsequent decay Ω^{-}→K^{-}Λ (Ω[over ¯]^{+}→K^{+}Λ[over ¯]) are measured for the first time by a fit to the angular distribution of the complete decay chain, and the spin of the Ω^{-} is determined to be 3/2 for the first time since its discovery more than 50 years ago.

High expression of ACE2 in the human lung leads to the release of IL6 by suppressing cellular immunity: IL6 plays a key role in COVID-19

OBJECTIVE

The pathogenesis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains clear, and no effective treatment exists. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19 and uses ACE2 as a cell receptor to invade human cells. Therefore, ACE2 is a key factor to analyze the SARS-CoV-2 infection mechanism.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We included 9,783 sequencing results of different organs, analyzed the effects of different ACE2 expression patterns in organs and immune regulation.

RESULTS

We found that ACE2 expression was significantly increased in the lungs and digestive tract. The cellular immunity of individuals with elevated ACE2 expression is activated, whereas humoral immunity is dampened, leading to the release of many inflammatory factors dominated by IL6. Furthermore, by studying the sequencing results of SARS-CoV-2-infected and uninfected cells, IL6 was found to be an indicator of a significant increase in the number of infected cells. However, although patients with high expression of ACE2 will release many inflammatory factors dominated by IL6, cellular immunity in the colorectum is significantly activated. This effect may explain why individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection have severe lung symptoms and digestion issues, which are important causes of milder symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

This finding indicates that ACE2 and IL6 inhibitors have important value in COVID-19.

[Intraobserver reproducibility of Ki-67 assessment of breast cancers based on digital slide]

Objective: To investigate the intra-observer reproducibility of Ki-67　　　assessment in breast cancers using three methods based on digital slide. Methods: Thirty cases of invasive breast cancer tissues were immunostained for Ki-67 by automatic stainer, and then scanned into digital pathological slides. Ki-67 positive index was measured individually by three pathologists using size-set visual assessment of hot spot (SSVAHS), size-set semi-automatic counting of hot spot(SSSACHS), and size-set automatic counting of hot spot (SSACHS), respectively, and repeated for 10 times. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of each assessment method was calculated, and the intraobserver reliability was classified as excellent, good, fair and poor according to ICC. Results: The ICC by 3 pathologists using SSVAHS was 0.832, 0.843 and 0.826, respectively, The ICC using SSSACHS was 0.926,0.938,0.929, and the ICC using SSACHS was 0.964, 0.971 and 0.968.The intraobserver reliability level of all three methods was excellent. Conclusion: The three methods of Ki-67 assessment achieve satisfactory intraobserver reproducibility, and the order of reproducibility from high to low is SSACHS, SSSACHS, and SSVAHS.

A Rare Case of Babesia microti in San Francisco East Bay

Introduction/Objective

Babesia microti, a zoonotic intraerythrocytic parasite, is the primary etiological agent of human Babesiosis in the United States. Human infections range from subclinical illness to severe disease resulting in death, with symptoms being related to host immune status. Despite advances in our understanding and management of B. microti, the incidence of infection in the United States has increased. Therefore, research focused on eradicating disease and optimizing clinical management is essential. Here we review this remarkable organism, with emphasis on the clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic aspects of human disease.

Methods

A 71-year-old Asian man presented to the emergency department in our San Francisco East Bay community hospital in July 2019 with complaints of high fever and chills for the last five days. The patient is a resident of Taiwan. He was visiting his daughter in New Jersey where he worked in her garden. He came to California to visit his son when he noted feelings of excessive tiredness, muscle aches, and headache. He also described a decrease in appetite and nausea with vomiting and diarrhea.

Results

His chest x-ray showed increased diffuse bilateral pulmonary infiltrate. He has a history of coronary artery disease post stent placement in 2011 and history of benign prostatic hypertrophy post transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) On physical exam, He was febrile (103.1°F) and scleral icterus was identified. Laboratory workup revealed findings suggestive of hemolysis including increased LDH (401 U/L) and increased unconjugated bilirubin (1.7 mg/dL), critically low platelets and white blood cells of (32 and 2.9), while hemoglobin & hematocrit values in the normal range (13. g/dL & 36.8%, respectively). Elevated liver enzymes were also noted; AST 72 U/L and ALT 59 U/L. Upon examination of the blood smear, Malaria -like organisms were detected, and Maltese cross forms were also visible in the red blood cells. Those findings were also seen using Giemsa stain and were confirmed at the Alameda county lab. PCR was also positive for Babesia microti. Investigation for concurrent infection with Ehrlichia chaffeensis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Borrelia burgdorferi was negative.

Conclusion

This case highlights the importance of timely and effective collaboration between the laboratory staff and clinicians.

MicroRNA-148a regulates the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway and suppresses the development of esophagus squamous cell carcinoma via targeting MAP3K9

OBJECTIVE

Esophagus squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) was a dominant histological type of esophagus cancer, which has a very high incidence due to distant metastasis and local invasion. MicroRNA-148a (miR-148a) functioned as a tumor suppressor in a variety of cancers. The purpose of our study was to explore the vital role of miR-148a in esophagus squamous cell carcinoma.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The Kaplan-Meier method was applied to calculate the 5-year overall survival of esophagus squamous cell carcinoma patients. Real Time-quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) and Western blot were conducted to calculate the mRNA levels of miR-148a and genes. The cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and transwell assays were performed to measure the proliferative and invasive ability.

RESULTS

MiR-148a was observed to be significantly downregulated and the downregulation of miR-148 predicted poor prognosis of esophagus squamous cell carcinoma patients. MAP3K9 was a target gene of miR-148a and its expression was mediated by miR-148a through directly binding to the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of its mRNA in the esophagus squamous cell carcinoma. Moreover, miR-148a remarkably inhibited the proliferation and invasion through directly targeting to MAP3K9 via extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK)/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in the ESCC cells. In addition, overexpression of miR-148a inhibited the growth of ESCC in vivo.

CONCLUSIONS

MiR-148a inhibited the proliferation and invasion through directly targeting to MAP3K9 by ERK/MAPK pathway and EMT in ESCC cells. The newly identified miR-148a/MAP3K9 axis provides a novel insight into the pathogenesis of the esophagus squamous cell carcinoma.

Observation of the Doubly Cabibbo-Suppressed Decay D^{+}→K^{+}π^{+}π^{-}π^{0} and Evidence for D^{+}→K^{+}ω

Using 2.93  fb^{-1} of e^{+}e^{-} collision data collected at a center-of-mass energy of 3.773 GeV with the BESIII detector, the first observation of the doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decay D^{+}→K^{+}π^{+}π^{-}π^{0} is reported. After removing decays that contain narrow intermediate resonances, including D^{+}→K^{+}η, D^{+}→K^{+}ω, and D^{+}→K^{+}ϕ, the branching fraction of the decay D^{+}→K^{+}π^{+}π^{-}π^{0} is measured to be (1.13±0.08_{stat}±0.03_{syst})×10^{-3}. The ratio of branching fractions of D^{+}→K^{+}π^{+}π^{-}π^{0} over D^{+}→K^{-}π^{+}π^{+}π^{0} is found to be (1.81±0.15)%, which corresponds to (6.28±0.52)tan^{4}θ_{C}, where θ_{C} is the Cabibbo mixing angle. This ratio is significantly larger than the corresponding ratios for other doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decays. The asymmetry of the branching fractions of charge-conjugated decays D^{±}→K^{±}π^{±}π^{∓}π^{0} is also determined, and no evidence for CP violation is found. In addition, the first evidence for the D^{+}→K^{+}ω decay, with a statistical significance of 3.3σ, is presented and the branching fraction is measured to be B(D^{+}→K^{+}ω)=(5.7_{-2.1}^{+2.5}_{stat}±0.2_{syst})×10^{-5}.

GC-MS analysis of volatiles in cinnamon essential oil extracted by different methods

Cinnamon essential oil (CEO) was extracted by three different methods: steam distillation (SD), ultrasound-assisted steam distillation (UASD) and microwave-assisted steam distillation (MASD). The volatiles in CEO were separated and identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and the differences in volatiles among the three different methods were further analyzed through principal component analysis. The results showed that 36 individual volatile components were present in the CEO from the three different methods. In general, the numbers of aldehydes, esters, alcohols, terpenes, aromatics and ketones were 6, 3, 7, 17, 2, and 1, respectively. The most abundant volatile component was determined to be cinnamic aldehyde. The content of total cinnamic aldehydes, which determines the price of CEO, was the highest among the three methods in the UASD sample (85.633%). Moreover, the highest yield (8.33‰) of essential oil was extracted by the UASD method. Therefore, UASD was the best way for CEO extraction in this research and was recommended for future industrial applications.