We conducted a six-year epidemiological study on human coronaviruses（HCoVs） circulating in Hong Kong, using 8275 nasopharyngeal samples from patients with acute respiratory tract infections. HCoVs were detected in 7...We conducted a six-year epidemiological study on human coronaviruses（HCoVs） circulating in Hong Kong, using 8275 nasopharyngeal samples from patients with acute respiratory tract infections. HCoVs were detected in 77（0.93%） of the samples by a pan-HCoV RT-PCR assay. The most frequently detected HCoV species was HCoV-OC43（0.58%）, followed by HCoV-229E（0.15%）,HCoV-HKU1（0.13%） and HCoV-NL63（0.07%）. HCoVs were detected throughout the study period（September 2008–August 2014）, with the highest detection rate from September 2010 to August2011（22/1500, 1.47%）. Different seasonal patterns of each HCoV species in Hong Kong were noted.HCoV-OC43 was predominant in the fall and winter, whereas HCoV-HKU1 showed peak activity in winter, with a few cases occurred in spring and summer. HCoV-229 E mainly occurred in winter and spring, while HCoV-NL63 was predominant in summer and autumn. HCoVs most commonly infect the elderly and young children, with median age of 79.5 years（range, 22 days to 95 years）.Intriguingly, the detection rate of HCoV-OC43 in the age group of ＆gt; 80 years（26/2380, 1.09%） was significantly higher than that in the age group of 0–10 years（12/2529, 0.47%）（P 〈 0.05）. These data provides new insight into the epidemiology of coronaviruses.展开更多
Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis(2-DE)is a gel-based technique widely used for analyzing the pro-tein composition of biological samples.It is capable of resolving complex mixtures containing more than a thousand pr...Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis(2-DE)is a gel-based technique widely used for analyzing the pro-tein composition of biological samples.It is capable of resolving complex mixtures containing more than a thousand protein components into individual protein spots through the coupling of two orthogonal bio-physical separation techniques:isoelectric focusing(first dimension)and polyacrylamide gel electrophore-sis(second dimension).2-DE is ideally suited for ana-lyzing the entire expressed protein complement of a bacterial cell:its proteome.Its relative simplicity and good reproducibility have led to 2-DE being widely used for exploring proteomics within a wide range of envi-ronmental and medically-relevant bacteria.Here we give a broad overview of the basic principles and his-torical development of gel-based proteomics,and how this powerful approach can be applied for studying bacterial biology and physiology.We highlight specific 2-DE applications that can be used to analyze when,where and how much proteins are expressed.The links between proteomics,genomics and mass spectrometry are discussed.We explore how proteomics involving tandem mass spectrometry can be used to analyze(post-translational)protein modifications or to identify proteins of unknown origin by de novo peptide se-quencing.The use of proteome fractionation tech-niques and non-gel-based proteomic approaches are also discussed.We highlight how the analysis of pro-teins secreted by bacterial cells(secretomes or exo-proteomes)can be used to study infection processes or the immune response.This review is aimed at non-specialists who wish to gain a concise,compre-hensive and contemporary overview of the nature and applications of bacterial proteomics.展开更多
Introduction Target therapies are widely used for treatment of various kinds of hematological malignancies.Since the cancer cells that are targeted,share the same markers with the non-cancerous cells of the immunologi...Introduction Target therapies are widely used for treatment of various kinds of hematological malignancies.Since the cancer cells that are targeted,share the same markers with the non-cancerous cells of the immunological system,these therapies are often associated with infectious diseases that require the particular type of immune response for control.In this article,we report a case of Listeria monocytogenes bacteraemia complicating carfilzomib and daratumumab treatment for multiple myeloma.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first case report of listeriosis as a complication of monoclonal antibodies against CD38 and/or proteosome inhibitor therapy.展开更多
Introduction Using the information obtained from analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences,Tsukamurella was first proposed as a genus in 1988,1 despite the fact that the first strain of this group of bacteria was described ...Introduction Using the information obtained from analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences,Tsukamurella was first proposed as a genus in 1988,1 despite the fact that the first strain of this group of bacteria was described in 1941,2 and the first human isolate was reported in 1971.3 Similar to related genera of the order Corynebacteriales,such as Nocardia,Rhodococcus,and Gordonia,members of Tsukamurella are Gram-positive,aerobic,catalase-positive,and partially acid-fast as a result of the presence of mycolic acid in the cell envelope.Due to their similar phenotypic properties,differentiation of these genera and speciation within these genera is difficult in most clinical microbiology laboratories.展开更多
Although various opportunistic infections have been described in patients with anti-interferon gamma autoantibodies,so far there is no Listeria monocytogenes infection reported to be associated with this primary immun...Although various opportunistic infections have been described in patients with anti-interferon gamma autoantibodies,so far there is no Listeria monocytogenes infection reported to be associated with this primary immunodeficiency.Here,we describe the first case of bacteremic L.monocytogenes meningitis in a 59-year-old Chinese man with anti-interferon gamma autoantibodies,who presented with acute onset of fever and severe headache.Blood culture was positive but culture of the cerebrospinal fluid was negative,although it showed features suggestive of partially treated bacterial meningitis.The presence of L.monocytogenes in the cerebrospinal fluid was confirmed by next-generation sequencing.Avoidance of high-risk food items in these patients is important for the prevention of listeriosis.The use of antibiotic regimens that cover Listeria is crucial for empirical treatment,particularly if such patients develop acute or subacute meningitis.Next-generation sequencing is becoming an important diagnostic modality for culture-negative infections.展开更多
Kinematics has been successfully used to describe body motion without reference to the kinetics (or forces causing the motion). In this article, both the theory and applications of the matrix method are provided to de...Kinematics has been successfully used to describe body motion without reference to the kinetics (or forces causing the motion). In this article, both the theory and applications of the matrix method are provided to describe complex human motion. After the definition of a Cartesian coordinate frame is introduced, the description of transformations between multiple coordinate frames is given; the decomposition of a transformation matrix into anatomical joint motion parameters (e.g. Euler angles) is then explained. The advantages of the matrix method are illustrated by three examples related to biomechanical studies. The first describes a reaching and grasping task in which matrix transformations are applied to position the hand with respect to an object during grasping. The second example demonstrates the utility of the matrix method in revealing the coupling motion of the wrist between flexion-extension and radial-ulnar deviation. The last example highlights the indispensable use of the matrix method for the study of knee biomechanics, including the description of knee joint kinematics during functional activities and determination of in-situ ligament forces using robotic technology, which has advanced our understanding of the functions of the cruciate ligaments to knee joint kinematics. It is hoped that the theoretical development and biomechanical application examples will help the readers apply the matrix method to research problems related to human motion.展开更多
Chiroptera is the second largest mammalian order in terms of species number.So far,there are more than 1400 known bat species across the six continents,making up 20%of the total number of mammalian species.1 Bats are ...Chiroptera is the second largest mammalian order in terms of species number.So far,there are more than 1400 known bat species across the six continents,making up 20%of the total number of mammalian species.1 Bats are well recognized to be the hosts of a number of highly pathogenic viruses,such as rabies virus,Hendra virus,Nipah virus,and Ebola virus,for a long time.2–5 Shortly after the severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS)epidemic which originated from Southern China in 2003,we discovered that bats were the ultimate reservoir of SARSrelated coronavirus(SARSr-CoV).6 In 2012,the cause of the even more fatal Middle East respiratory syndrome(MERS)which originated from the Middle East was also found to be another CoV,MERS-CoV.7 The ancestor of MERS-CoV was also from bats.8,9 Recently,the COVID-19 outbreak that has already officially infected more than 13 million patients with more than 574000 deaths was also confirmed to be due to another betacoronavirus,named SARS coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2),from bats.10 Moreover,bat cell lines have also been harvested and propagated for the study of SARS-CoV,MERS-CoV,and SARS-CoV-2.展开更多
Introduction Campylobacter rectus is a Gram-negative,anaerobic rod,first described in 1981 as Wolinella recta,subsequently re-classified to Campylobacter based on phylogenetic analysis in 1991.1 It is found in the ora...Introduction Campylobacter rectus is a Gram-negative,anaerobic rod,first described in 1981 as Wolinella recta,subsequently re-classified to Campylobacter based on phylogenetic analysis in 1991.1 It is found in the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract,and is mainly implicated in oral and periodontal infections.So far,there are only a handful of case reports in the literature describing extra-oral invasive C.rectus infections.2–6 Recently,we described a case of fatal C.rectus infection,due to subdural empyema and ruptured mycotic intracranial aneurysm.2 In this article,we report a case of Lemierre’s syndrome associated with C.rectus bacteremia.展开更多
Introduction Streptococcus agalactiae is most commonly associated with pregnancy-related infections,neonatal sepsis,and infections in patients with immunocompromised states,such as diabetes mellitus and malignancies.1...Introduction Streptococcus agalactiae is most commonly associated with pregnancy-related infections,neonatal sepsis,and infections in patients with immunocompromised states,such as diabetes mellitus and malignancies.1 Although abscesses caused by S.agalactiae are sometimes encountered in immunocompromised patients,S.agalactiae abscess in transplant recipients is extremely rare.S.agalactiae abscesses have never been reported in liver transplant recipients.In this article,we report a case of S.agalactiae abscess in the anterior cervical space extending to the superior mediastinum in a liver transplant recipient.展开更多
Cladistics is a biological philosophy that uses genealogi-cal relationship among species and an inferred sequence of divergence as the basis of classifi cation.This review critically surveys the chronological developm...Cladistics is a biological philosophy that uses genealogi-cal relationship among species and an inferred sequence of divergence as the basis of classifi cation.This review critically surveys the chronological development of bio-logical classification from Aristotle through our post-genomic era with a central focus on cladistics.In 1957,Julian Huxley coined cladogenesis to denote splitting from subspeciation.In 1960,the English translation of Willi Hennig’s 1950 work,Systematic Phylogenetics,was published,which received strong opposition from phenet-icists,such as numerical taxonomists Peter Sneath and Robert Sokal,and evolutionary taxonomist,Ernst Mayr,and sparked acrimonious debates in 1960-1980.In 1977-1990,Carl Woese pioneered in using small subunit rRNA gene sequences to delimitate the three domains of cellu-lar life and established major prokaryotic phyla.Cladistics has since dominated taxonomy.Despite being compatible with modern microbiological observations,i.e.organisms with unusual phenotypes,restricted expression of charac-teristics and occasionally being uncultivable,increasing recognition of pervasiveness and abundance of horizon-tal gene transfer has challenged relevance and validity of cladistics.The mosaic nature of eukaryotic and prokary-otic genomes was also gradually discovered.In the mid-2000s,high-throughput and whole-genome sequencing became routine and complex geneologies of organisms have led to the proposal of a reticulated web of life.While genomics only indirectly leads to understanding of func-tional adaptations to ecological niches,computational modeling of entire organisms is underway and the gap between genomics and phenetics may soon be bridged.Controversies are not expected to settle as taxonomic classifi cations shall remain subjective to serve the human scientist,not the classifi ed.展开更多
On September 14,2008,Drs.Shu Chien,Peter Chen,Geert Schmid-Schonbein,Pin Tong and I had the great pleasure of organizing a beautiful event in San Diego,California to celebration Dr.Fung’s 90thbirthday with his studen...On September 14,2008,Drs.Shu Chien,Peter Chen,Geert Schmid-Schonbein,Pin Tong and I had the great pleasure of organizing a beautiful event in San Diego,California to celebration Dr.Fung’s 90thbirthday with his students,friends and family[1].The team gave me the honor and privilege to be the banquet speaker.I titled my speech as“Dr.Fung:My Respected Mentor and Cherished Friend”-something for those of you who have known Dr.Fung well can“resonate”.Still,I would like to take this opportunity to share with you an excerpt of the story I told about this great gentle man.展开更多
Background:IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis is a relative newly recognized and rare manifestation of IgG4-related disease,an immune-mediated fibroinflammatory tumefactive disorder.Fewer than 80 patients have ...Background:IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis is a relative newly recognized and rare manifestation of IgG4-related disease,an immune-mediated fibroinflammatory tumefactive disorder.Fewer than 80 patients have been reported in the literature,and it can mimic common neurosurgical conditions.We describe the clinical presentation of two patients that were initially considered to have a subdural collection,tuberculous meningitis,and a cervical spinal meningioma,but were eventually diagnosed with this disease.Case presentation:Two ethnic Chinese men,86 and 62 years old,experienced a 4-week history of headache.Both patients had a history of autoimmune disease,namely glomerulonephritis and Grave’s disease,respectively.Magnetic resonance brain imaging revealed diffuse dural thickening with the latter patient exhibiting homogeneous and intense gadolinium-contrast enhancement.Since the 86-year-old patient also had progressive bilateral visual loss,giant cell arteritis was suspected and a 2-week course of glucocorticoid therapy was prescribed,but his symptoms failed to improve.The 62-year-old patient also had accompanying low-grade fever and was treated empirically as having tuberculous meningitis although there were no confirmatory microbiological findings.This patient further developed right hemiparesis,and additional imaging revealed a C4/5 intradural-extramedullary contrast-enhancing lesion resembling a meningioma causing cord compression.Both patients underwent neurosurgical intervention with the former undergoing a dural biopsy and the latter having the cervical lesion resected.The final diagnosis was IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis with the hallmark histological features of lymphoplasmacytic infiltration of IgG4+plasma cells,storiform fibrosis,and obliterative phlebitis.In addition,their serum IgG4 levels were elevated(i.e.,>135 mg/dL).Both patients received at least 6 months of glucocorticoid therapy while the latter also had azathioprine.Their symptoms improved significantly and recurrent lesions展开更多
Bacteria of the genus Vibrio are ubiquitously distributed in the marine environment. Due to the rapid expansion of intensive mariculture and the consequent deterioration of culture conditions, more and more Vibrio spp...Bacteria of the genus Vibrio are ubiquitously distributed in the marine environment. Due to the rapid expansion of intensive mariculture and the consequent deterioration of culture conditions, more and more Vibrio spp. have been recognized as pathogenic agents in outbreaks of vibriosis, a serious epizootic disease affecting most wild and farmed fish species worldwide, which has become the most important limiting factor for the development of intensive mariculture industry. Attempts have been made to understand the pathogenicity of vibrios in host fish with the ultimate aim of elucidating the best means for disease control. After an extensive literature survey of the recent advances in the field of fish vibriosis, the pathological changes, virulence factors and associated potential pathogenic mechanisms, transmission routes and related environmental factors involved in outbreak of vibriosis, as well as the controlling strategies are reviewed in the present paper.展开更多
Understanding the racial specificities of diseases—such as adult diffuse glioma,the most common primary malignant tumor of the central nervous system—is a critical step toward precision medicine.Here,we comprehensiv...Understanding the racial specificities of diseases—such as adult diffuse glioma,the most common primary malignant tumor of the central nervous system—is a critical step toward precision medicine.Here,we comprehensively review studies of gliomas in East Asian populations and other ancestry groups to clarify the racial differences in terms of epidemiology and genomic characteristics.Overall,we observed a lower glioma incidence in East Asians than in Whites;notably,patients with glioblastoma had significantly younger ages of onset and longer overall survival than the Whites.Multiple genome-wide association studies of various cohorts have revealed single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with overall and subtype-specific glioma susceptibility.Notably,only 3 risk loci—5p15.33,11q23.3,and 20q13.33—were shared between patients with East Asian and White ancestry,whereas other loci predominated only in particular populations.For instance,risk loci 12p11.23,15q15-21.1,and 19p13.12 were reported in East Asians,whereas risk loci 8q24.21,1p31.3,and 1q32.1 were reported in studies in White patients.Although the somatic mutational profiles of gliomas between East Asians and non-East Asians were broadly consistent,a lower incidence of EGFR amplification in glioblastoma and a higher incidence of 1p19q-IDH-TERT triple-negative low-grade glioma were observed in East Asian cohorts.By summarizing large-scale disease surveillance,germline,and somatic genomic studies,this review reveals the unique characteristics of adult diffuse glioma among East Asians,to guide clinical management and policy design focused on patients with East Asian ancestry.展开更多
基金partly supported by the Theme-Based Research Scheme, University Grant CouncilStrategic Research Theme Fund and University Development Fund, The University of Hong KongHealth and Medical Research Fund of the Food and Health Bureau of HKSAR
文摘We conducted a six-year epidemiological study on human coronaviruses（HCoVs） circulating in Hong Kong, using 8275 nasopharyngeal samples from patients with acute respiratory tract infections. HCoVs were detected in 77（0.93%） of the samples by a pan-HCoV RT-PCR assay. The most frequently detected HCoV species was HCoV-OC43（0.58%）, followed by HCoV-229E（0.15%）,HCoV-HKU1（0.13%） and HCoV-NL63（0.07%）. HCoVs were detected throughout the study period（September 2008–August 2014）, with the highest detection rate from September 2010 to August2011（22/1500, 1.47%）. Different seasonal patterns of each HCoV species in Hong Kong were noted.HCoV-OC43 was predominant in the fall and winter, whereas HCoV-HKU1 showed peak activity in winter, with a few cases occurred in spring and summer. HCoV-229 E mainly occurred in winter and spring, while HCoV-NL63 was predominant in summer and autumn. HCoVs most commonly infect the elderly and young children, with median age of 79.5 years（range, 22 days to 95 years）.Intriguingly, the detection rate of HCoV-OC43 in the age group of ＆gt; 80 years（26/2380, 1.09%） was significantly higher than that in the age group of 0–10 years（12/2529, 0.47%）（P 〈 0.05）. These data provides new insight into the epidemiology of coronaviruses.
基金This work was partly supported by the Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases(Commissioned study)of the Health,Welfare and Food Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government,Research Grant Council GrantUniversity Development Fund.
文摘Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis(2-DE)is a gel-based technique widely used for analyzing the pro-tein composition of biological samples.It is capable of resolving complex mixtures containing more than a thousand protein components into individual protein spots through the coupling of two orthogonal bio-physical separation techniques:isoelectric focusing(first dimension)and polyacrylamide gel electrophore-sis(second dimension).2-DE is ideally suited for ana-lyzing the entire expressed protein complement of a bacterial cell:its proteome.Its relative simplicity and good reproducibility have led to 2-DE being widely used for exploring proteomics within a wide range of envi-ronmental and medically-relevant bacteria.Here we give a broad overview of the basic principles and his-torical development of gel-based proteomics,and how this powerful approach can be applied for studying bacterial biology and physiology.We highlight specific 2-DE applications that can be used to analyze when,where and how much proteins are expressed.The links between proteomics,genomics and mass spectrometry are discussed.We explore how proteomics involving tandem mass spectrometry can be used to analyze(post-translational)protein modifications or to identify proteins of unknown origin by de novo peptide se-quencing.The use of proteome fractionation tech-niques and non-gel-based proteomic approaches are also discussed.We highlight how the analysis of pro-teins secreted by bacterial cells(secretomes or exo-proteomes)can be used to study infection processes or the immune response.This review is aimed at non-specialists who wish to gain a concise,compre-hensive and contemporary overview of the nature and applications of bacterial proteomics.
基金supported by funding from the Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases,the Ministry of Education of China.
文摘Introduction Target therapies are widely used for treatment of various kinds of hematological malignancies.Since the cancer cells that are targeted,share the same markers with the non-cancerous cells of the immunological system,these therapies are often associated with infectious diseases that require the particular type of immune response for control.In this article,we report a case of Listeria monocytogenes bacteraemia complicating carfilzomib and daratumumab treatment for multiple myeloma.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first case report of listeriosis as a complication of monoclonal antibodies against CD38 and/or proteosome inhibitor therapy.
基金This work is partly supported by funding from the Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases,the Ministry of Education of China.
文摘Introduction Using the information obtained from analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences,Tsukamurella was first proposed as a genus in 1988,1 despite the fact that the first strain of this group of bacteria was described in 1941,2 and the first human isolate was reported in 1971.3 Similar to related genera of the order Corynebacteriales,such as Nocardia,Rhodococcus,and Gordonia,members of Tsukamurella are Gram-positive,aerobic,catalase-positive,and partially acid-fast as a result of the presence of mycolic acid in the cell envelope.Due to their similar phenotypic properties,differentiation of these genera and speciation within these genera is difficult in most clinical microbiology laboratories.
基金This work was partly supported by funding from the seed fund of The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital(HKUSZH201901036).
文摘Although various opportunistic infections have been described in patients with anti-interferon gamma autoantibodies,so far there is no Listeria monocytogenes infection reported to be associated with this primary immunodeficiency.Here,we describe the first case of bacteremic L.monocytogenes meningitis in a 59-year-old Chinese man with anti-interferon gamma autoantibodies,who presented with acute onset of fever and severe headache.Blood culture was positive but culture of the cerebrospinal fluid was negative,although it showed features suggestive of partially treated bacterial meningitis.The presence of L.monocytogenes in the cerebrospinal fluid was confirmed by next-generation sequencing.Avoidance of high-risk food items in these patients is important for the prevention of listeriosis.The use of antibiotic regimens that cover Listeria is crucial for empirical treatment,particularly if such patients develop acute or subacute meningitis.Next-generation sequencing is becoming an important diagnostic modality for culture-negative infections.
文摘Kinematics has been successfully used to describe body motion without reference to the kinetics (or forces causing the motion). In this article, both the theory and applications of the matrix method are provided to describe complex human motion. After the definition of a Cartesian coordinate frame is introduced, the description of transformations between multiple coordinate frames is given; the decomposition of a transformation matrix into anatomical joint motion parameters (e.g. Euler angles) is then explained. The advantages of the matrix method are illustrated by three examples related to biomechanical studies. The first describes a reaching and grasping task in which matrix transformations are applied to position the hand with respect to an object during grasping. The second example demonstrates the utility of the matrix method in revealing the coupling motion of the wrist between flexion-extension and radial-ulnar deviation. The last example highlights the indispensable use of the matrix method for the study of knee biomechanics, including the description of knee joint kinematics during functional activities and determination of in-situ ligament forces using robotic technology, which has advanced our understanding of the functions of the cruciate ligaments to knee joint kinematics. It is hoped that the theoretical development and biomechanical application examples will help the readers apply the matrix method to research problems related to human motion.
基金the Theme-based Research Scheme(Grant number:T11/707/15)。
文摘Chiroptera is the second largest mammalian order in terms of species number.So far,there are more than 1400 known bat species across the six continents,making up 20%of the total number of mammalian species.1 Bats are well recognized to be the hosts of a number of highly pathogenic viruses,such as rabies virus,Hendra virus,Nipah virus,and Ebola virus,for a long time.2–5 Shortly after the severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS)epidemic which originated from Southern China in 2003,we discovered that bats were the ultimate reservoir of SARSrelated coronavirus(SARSr-CoV).6 In 2012,the cause of the even more fatal Middle East respiratory syndrome(MERS)which originated from the Middle East was also found to be another CoV,MERS-CoV.7 The ancestor of MERS-CoV was also from bats.8,9 Recently,the COVID-19 outbreak that has already officially infected more than 13 million patients with more than 574000 deaths was also confirmed to be due to another betacoronavirus,named SARS coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2),from bats.10 Moreover,bat cell lines have also been harvested and propagated for the study of SARS-CoV,MERS-CoV,and SARS-CoV-2.
基金supported by funding from the Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases,the Ministry of Education of China.
文摘Introduction Campylobacter rectus is a Gram-negative,anaerobic rod,first described in 1981 as Wolinella recta,subsequently re-classified to Campylobacter based on phylogenetic analysis in 1991.1 It is found in the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract,and is mainly implicated in oral and periodontal infections.So far,there are only a handful of case reports in the literature describing extra-oral invasive C.rectus infections.2–6 Recently,we described a case of fatal C.rectus infection,due to subdural empyema and ruptured mycotic intracranial aneurysm.2 In this article,we report a case of Lemierre’s syndrome associated with C.rectus bacteremia.
基金This work is partly supported by funding from the Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases,the Ministry of Education of China.
文摘Introduction Streptococcus agalactiae is most commonly associated with pregnancy-related infections,neonatal sepsis,and infections in patients with immunocompromised states,such as diabetes mellitus and malignancies.1 Although abscesses caused by S.agalactiae are sometimes encountered in immunocompromised patients,S.agalactiae abscess in transplant recipients is extremely rare.S.agalactiae abscesses have never been reported in liver transplant recipients.In this article,we report a case of S.agalactiae abscess in the anterior cervical space extending to the superior mediastinum in a liver transplant recipient.
文摘Cladistics is a biological philosophy that uses genealogi-cal relationship among species and an inferred sequence of divergence as the basis of classifi cation.This review critically surveys the chronological development of bio-logical classification from Aristotle through our post-genomic era with a central focus on cladistics.In 1957,Julian Huxley coined cladogenesis to denote splitting from subspeciation.In 1960,the English translation of Willi Hennig’s 1950 work,Systematic Phylogenetics,was published,which received strong opposition from phenet-icists,such as numerical taxonomists Peter Sneath and Robert Sokal,and evolutionary taxonomist,Ernst Mayr,and sparked acrimonious debates in 1960-1980.In 1977-1990,Carl Woese pioneered in using small subunit rRNA gene sequences to delimitate the three domains of cellu-lar life and established major prokaryotic phyla.Cladistics has since dominated taxonomy.Despite being compatible with modern microbiological observations,i.e.organisms with unusual phenotypes,restricted expression of charac-teristics and occasionally being uncultivable,increasing recognition of pervasiveness and abundance of horizon-tal gene transfer has challenged relevance and validity of cladistics.The mosaic nature of eukaryotic and prokary-otic genomes was also gradually discovered.In the mid-2000s,high-throughput and whole-genome sequencing became routine and complex geneologies of organisms have led to the proposal of a reticulated web of life.While genomics only indirectly leads to understanding of func-tional adaptations to ecological niches,computational modeling of entire organisms is underway and the gap between genomics and phenetics may soon be bridged.Controversies are not expected to settle as taxonomic classifi cations shall remain subjective to serve the human scientist,not the classifi ed.
文摘On September 14,2008,Drs.Shu Chien,Peter Chen,Geert Schmid-Schonbein,Pin Tong and I had the great pleasure of organizing a beautiful event in San Diego,California to celebration Dr.Fung’s 90thbirthday with his students,friends and family[1].The team gave me the honor and privilege to be the banquet speaker.I titled my speech as“Dr.Fung:My Respected Mentor and Cherished Friend”-something for those of you who have known Dr.Fung well can“resonate”.Still,I would like to take this opportunity to share with you an excerpt of the story I told about this great gentle man.
文摘Background:IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis is a relative newly recognized and rare manifestation of IgG4-related disease,an immune-mediated fibroinflammatory tumefactive disorder.Fewer than 80 patients have been reported in the literature,and it can mimic common neurosurgical conditions.We describe the clinical presentation of two patients that were initially considered to have a subdural collection,tuberculous meningitis,and a cervical spinal meningioma,but were eventually diagnosed with this disease.Case presentation:Two ethnic Chinese men,86 and 62 years old,experienced a 4-week history of headache.Both patients had a history of autoimmune disease,namely glomerulonephritis and Grave’s disease,respectively.Magnetic resonance brain imaging revealed diffuse dural thickening with the latter patient exhibiting homogeneous and intense gadolinium-contrast enhancement.Since the 86-year-old patient also had progressive bilateral visual loss,giant cell arteritis was suspected and a 2-week course of glucocorticoid therapy was prescribed,but his symptoms failed to improve.The 62-year-old patient also had accompanying low-grade fever and was treated empirically as having tuberculous meningitis although there were no confirmatory microbiological findings.This patient further developed right hemiparesis,and additional imaging revealed a C4/5 intradural-extramedullary contrast-enhancing lesion resembling a meningioma causing cord compression.Both patients underwent neurosurgical intervention with the former undergoing a dural biopsy and the latter having the cervical lesion resected.The final diagnosis was IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis with the hallmark histological features of lymphoplasmacytic infiltration of IgG4+plasma cells,storiform fibrosis,and obliterative phlebitis.In addition,their serum IgG4 levels were elevated(i.e.,>135 mg/dL).Both patients received at least 6 months of glucocorticoid therapy while the latter also had azathioprine.Their symptoms improved significantly and recurrent lesions
文摘Bacteria of the genus Vibrio are ubiquitously distributed in the marine environment. Due to the rapid expansion of intensive mariculture and the consequent deterioration of culture conditions, more and more Vibrio spp. have been recognized as pathogenic agents in outbreaks of vibriosis, a serious epizootic disease affecting most wild and farmed fish species worldwide, which has become the most important limiting factor for the development of intensive mariculture industry. Attempts have been made to understand the pathogenicity of vibrios in host fish with the ultimate aim of elucidating the best means for disease control. After an extensive literature survey of the recent advances in the field of fish vibriosis, the pathological changes, virulence factors and associated potential pathogenic mechanisms, transmission routes and related environmental factors involved in outbreak of vibriosis, as well as the controlling strategies are reviewed in the present paper.
基金supported by the Excellent Young Scientists Fund(Hong Kong,China and Macao,China)(Grant No.31922088)RGC grant(Grant No.26102719)+2 种基金ITC grant(Grant Nos.MHP/004/19,ITCPD/17-9)a grant from the Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province(Grant No.2020A0505090007)supported partly by the Project of Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone(Grant No.HZQB-KCZYB-2020083)。
文摘Understanding the racial specificities of diseases—such as adult diffuse glioma,the most common primary malignant tumor of the central nervous system—is a critical step toward precision medicine.Here,we comprehensively review studies of gliomas in East Asian populations and other ancestry groups to clarify the racial differences in terms of epidemiology and genomic characteristics.Overall,we observed a lower glioma incidence in East Asians than in Whites;notably,patients with glioblastoma had significantly younger ages of onset and longer overall survival than the Whites.Multiple genome-wide association studies of various cohorts have revealed single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with overall and subtype-specific glioma susceptibility.Notably,only 3 risk loci—5p15.33,11q23.3,and 20q13.33—were shared between patients with East Asian and White ancestry,whereas other loci predominated only in particular populations.For instance,risk loci 12p11.23,15q15-21.1,and 19p13.12 were reported in East Asians,whereas risk loci 8q24.21,1p31.3,and 1q32.1 were reported in studies in White patients.Although the somatic mutational profiles of gliomas between East Asians and non-East Asians were broadly consistent,a lower incidence of EGFR amplification in glioblastoma and a higher incidence of 1p19q-IDH-TERT triple-negative low-grade glioma were observed in East Asian cohorts.By summarizing large-scale disease surveillance,germline,and somatic genomic studies,this review reveals the unique characteristics of adult diffuse glioma among East Asians,to guide clinical management and policy design focused on patients with East Asian ancestry.
