Previous observational studies have highlighted associations between adipokines and hyperuricemia, as well as gout, but the causality and direction of these associations are not clear. Therefore, we attempted to assess whether there are causal effects of specific adipokines (such as adiponectin (ADP) and soluble leptin receptors (sOB-R)) on uric acid (UA) or gout in a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis, based on summary statistics from large genome-wide association studies. The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was performed as the primary analysis. Sensitivity analyses (including MR-Egger regression, weighted median, penalized weighted median, and MR pleiotropy residual sum and outlier methods) were also performed, to ensure reliable results. In the IVW models, no causal effect was found for sOB-R (odds ratios (OR), 1.002; 95% confidence intervals (CI), 0.999–1.004; p = 0.274) on UA, or ADP (OR, 1.198; 95% CI, 0.865–1.659; p = 0.277) or sOB-R (OR, 0.988; 95% CI, 0.940–1.037; p = 0.616) on gout. The results were confirmed in sensitivity analyses. There was no notable directional pleiotropy or heterogeneity. This study suggests that these specific adipokines may not play causal roles in UA or gout development.

Background: Understanding the influenza‐like illness (ILI) incidence, circulation pattern of virus strains and spatiotemporal pattern of influenza transmission are important for designing control interventions. Based on the 10 years' surveillance data, we aimed to provide a baseline characterization and the epidemiology and dynamics of influenza virus in Shandong.Methods: We extracted surveillance and laboratory testing data. We estimated the ILI incidence and analyzed the predominant virus. A wavelet power analysis was used to illustrate the periodicity. In addition, we applied a linear regression model to characterize the correlation of influenza seasonality with longitude.Results: The average ILI incidence was estimated to be 3744.79 per 1 million (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2558.09–4931.45) during 2009–2018. Influenza A/H1N1 and A/H3N2 strains predominated in the most influenza seasons in Shandong. The annual amplitude of influenza epidemics decreased with longitude (P < 0.05). In contrast, the epidemic peak of influenza emerged earlier in the western region and increased with longitude in influenza A (P < 0.05). The annual peak of the influenza B epidemic lagged a median of 4.2 weeks compared with that of influenza A.Conclusions: The development or modification of seasonal influenza vaccination strategies requires the recognition that the incidence is higher in preschool‐ and school‐aged children. Although seasonal influenza circulates annually in Shandong, the predominant virus strain circulation pattern is extremely unpredictable and strengthening surveillance for the predominant virus strain is necessary. Lower longitude inland regions need to take nonpharmaceutical or pharmaceutical interventions in advance during influenza high‐occurrence seasons.

Numerous studies have shown that Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection may be involved in the development of carotid atherosclerosis (CAS), but this conclusion is still controversial. The aim of this study was to explore whether there is a positive association between HP infection and CAS occurrence. We collected data on demographic characteristics, lifestyle, and disease history of the participants by questionnaire. We obtained clinical anthropometric data and blood samples of the participants from clinical examinations and laboratory work. The ¹³C urea breath test (¹³C-UBT) was performed to assess the HP infection status, and carotid ultrasonography was used to diagnose the CAS and plaque types. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression were used to identify the relationship between HP infection and CAS. A total of 1,424 participants were recruited for this study. A total of 740 HP-positive individuals and 684 HP-negative individuals were identified, and 345 participants were diagnosed with CAS. The prevalence of CAS was higher in the HP-positive group (26.4%) than in the HP-negative group (21.7%) (P < 0.05). A significantly higher prevalence of carotid intima-media thickening, carotid plaque, and carotid stenosis was identified in the HP-positive group than in the HP-negative group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the detection rate of unstable plaques between the HP-positive and HP-negative groups (P > 0.05). In multivariate models adjusted for covariates, HP infection showed a positive association with CAS, independent of other risk factors (ORs range: 1.283–1.333, P < 0.05). HP infection independently accounted for approximately 5% of the CAS risk in the absence of other cardiovascular risk factors. A positive association between HP infection and CAS was demonstrated in this study. HP infection might be an independent risk factor for CAS. Although the effect of HP infection on CAS observed in our study was less than that of traditional risk factors, we believe that this is an indispensable advance in the etiological study of CAS. These results imply that the microbial population might play an essential role in CAS, which provides a new perspective for the primary prevention of CAS.

Background: The associations between ambient temperature and influenza-like illness (ILI) have been investigated in previous studies. However, they have inconsistent results. The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of ambient temperature on ILI in Shandong Province, China.Methods: Weekly ILI surveillance and meteorological data over 2014–2017 of the Shandong Province were collected from the Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the China Meteorological Data Service Center, respectively. A distributed lag non-linear model was adopted to estimate the city-specific temperature–ILI relationships, which were used to pool the regional-level and provincial-level estimates through a multivariate meta-analysis.Results: There were 911,743 ILI cases reported in the study area between 2014 and 2017. The risk of ILI increased with decreasing weekly ambient temperature at the provincial level, and the effect was statistically significant when the temperature was <-1.5°C (RR = 1.24, 95% CI: 1.00–1.54). We found that the relationship between temperature and ILI showed an L-shaped curve at the regional level, except for Southern Shandong (S-shaped). The risk of ILI was influenced by cold, with significant lags from 2.5 to 3 weeks, and no significant effect of heat on ILI was found.Conclusion: Our findings confirm that low temperatures significantly increased the risk of ILI in the study area. In addition, the cold effect of ambient temperature may cause more risk of ILI than the hot effect. The findings have significant implications for developing strategies to control ILI and respond to climate change.

Background The antiviral therapy has been considered as an ordinary intervention for COVID-19 patients. However, the effectiveness of antiviral therapy is uncertain. This study was designed to determine the association between the antiviral therapy and in-hospital mortality among severe COVID-19 patients. Methods This study enrolled severe COVID-19 patients admitted to four designated hospitals in Wuhan, China. The use of antiviral treatments, demographics, laboratory variables, co-morbidities, complications, and other treatments were compared between survival and fatal cases. The association between antiviral agents and in-hospital mortality were analyzed. Results In total, 109 severe COVID-19 patients (mean age 65.43) were enrolled for analysis, among which, 61 (56.0%) patients were discharged alive, and 48 (44.0%) died during hospitalization. We found no association between lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) treatment and the in-hospital mortality (odds ratio (OR) = 0.195, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.023-1.679). Besides, ribavirin (OR = 0.738, 95% CI = 0.344-1.582), oseltamivir (OR = 0.765, 95% CI = 0.349-1.636), and interferon-alpha (IFN-a) (OR = 0.371, 95% CI = 0.112-1.236) were not associated with the in-hospital mortality. However, arbidol monotherapy (OR = 5.027, 95% CI = 1.79514.074) or the combination of arbidol and oseltamivir (OR = 5.900, 95% CI =1.190-29.247) was associated with an increased in-hospital mortality. In addition, the multiple logistic regression identified a significant association between the use of arbidol and the in-hospital mortality (adjusted OR = 4.195, 95% CI = 1.221-14.408). Conclusions Our findings indicated that LPV/r, IFN-a, ribavirin, or oseltamivir have no beneficial effects on the prognosis of severe COVID-19 patients, whereas the use of arbidol is associated with increased in-hospital mortality.

Coxsackievirus B5 (CVB5) is an important enterovirus B species (EV-Bs) type. We used the full-length genomic sequences of 53 viral sequences from the national hand, foot, and mouth disease surveillance network in the Chinese mainland (2001–2021). Among them, 69 entire VP1 coding region nucleotide sequences were used for CVB5 genotyping and genetic evolution analysis. Phylogenetic analysis based on a data set of 448 complete VP1 sequences showed that CVB5 could be divided into four genotypes (A-D) worldwide. Sequences from this study belonged to genotypes B and D, which dominated transmission in the Chinese mainland. Two transmission lineages of CVB5 have been discovered in the Chinese mainland, lineage 2 was predominant. Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis indicated that the tMRCA of CVB5 in the Chinese mainland could be traced to 1955, while the global trend could be traced to 1862, 93 years earlier than China. The evolution rate of CVB5 was higher in the Chinese mainland than worldwide. The spatiotemporal dynamics analysis of CVB5 assessed that virus transportation events were relatively active in Central, Northeast, North and Northwest China. Recombination analysis revealed frequent intertypic recombination in the non-structural region of CVB5 genotypes B and D with the other EV-Bs, revealing eight recombination lineages. Our study showed the molecular evolution and phylogeography of CVB5 that could provide valuable information for disease prevention.