Background: In October 2015, China’s one-child policy was universally replaced by a so-called two-child policy. This study investigated the association between the enactment of the new policy and changes in the number of births, and health-related birth outcomes.Methods: We used difference-in-difference model to analyse the birth record data in Pudong New Area, Shanghai.The design is descriptive before-and-after comparative study.Results: The data covered three policy periods: the one-child policy period (January 2008 to November 2014); the partial two-child policy period (December 2014 to June 2016); the universal two-child policy period (July 2016 to December 2017). There was an estimate of 7656 additional births during the 18 months of the implementation of the universal two-child policy. The trend of monthly percentage of births to mothers aged ≥35 increased by 0.24 percentage points (95% confidence interval 0.19 to 0.28,p < 0.001) during the same period. Being a baby boy, preterm birth, low birth weight, parents with lower educational attainment, and assisted delivery were associated with a higher risk of birth defects.Conclusions: The universal two-child policy was associated with an increase in the number of births and maternal age. Preterm birth, low birth weight, and assisted delivery were associated with a higher risk of birth defects, which suggested that these infants needed additional attention in the future.

The purpose of this article is to study the effects and mechanism of miR-4796 in the process of ophiopogon polysaccharide liposome (OPL) regulation of the immune activity of Kupffer cells (KCs). In this study, KCs were used as cell models, and were treated with OPL in different concentrations after being transfected with miR-4796 mimic or miR-4796 inhibitor. Firstly, the secretion of NO and iNOS, phagocytic activity, the expression of surface molecules CD14 and MHC II, apoptosis and ROS secretion were measured by Griess, flow cytometry, fluorescence staining and ELISA. Then, real-time PCR and Western blot were used to measure the expression of TLR4, IKKβ, MyD88 and NF-κB in the TLR4-NF-κB signaling pathway. The results showed that after transfection with miR-4796 mimic, the secretion of NO and iNOS, cell migration, cell phagocytosis and expression levels of CD14 and MHC II in the OPL group were significantly higher than those in the miR-4796 mimic control group (p < 0.05; p < 0.01). In addition, the mRNA and protein expression levels of TLR4, MyD88 and NF-κB were significantly higher than those in miR-4796 mimic control group (p < 0.05; p < 0.01). After transfection with miR-4796 inhibitor, the secretion of NO and iNOS, cell migration, cell phagocytosis, expression of CD14 and MHCII in OPL group were significantly higher than those in the miR-4796 inhibitor control group (p < 0.05; p < 0.01). These results indicated that OPL could regulate the immune activity of KCs by regulating miR-4796 and activating the TLR4-NF-κB signaling pathway.

The development of drug-resistance in the opportunistic pathogen Escherichia coli has become a global public health concern. Due to the share of similar flora between pets and their owners, the detection of pet-origin antibiotic-resistant E. coli is necessary. This study aimed to detect the prevalence of feline-origin ESBL E. coli in China and to explore the resistance elimination effect of garlic oil to cefquinome on ESBL E. coli. Cat fecal samples were collected from animal hospitals. The E. coli isolates were separated and purified by indicator media and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). ESBL genes were detected by PCR and Sanger sequencing. The MICs were determined. The synergistic effect of garlic oil and cefquinome against ESBL E. coli was investigated by checkerboard assays, time-kill and growth curves, drug-resistance curves, PI and NPN staining, and a scanning electronic microscope. A total of 80 E. coli strains were isolated from 101 fecal samples. The rate of ESBL E. coli was 52.5% (42/80). The prevailing ESBL genotypes in China were CTX-M-1, CTX-M-14, and TEM-116. In ESBL E. coli, garlic oil increased the susceptibility to cefquinome with FICIs from 0.2 to 0.7 and enhanced the killing effect of cefquinome with membrane destruction. Resistance to cefquinome decreased with treatment of garlic oil after 15 generations. Our study indicates that ESBL E. coli has been detected in cats kept as pets. The sensitivity of ESBL E. coli to cefquinome was enhanced by garlic oil, indicating that garlic oil may be a potential antibiotic enhancer.

Zoonotic transmission from pets to their owners is a major health problem. It is important to determine and control the drug resistance in pets to mitigate risks of human transmission. In this work, the current prevalence of multi-drug resistance (MDR) and resistance gene in Escherichia coli (E. coli) derived from dogs in nine cities across various regions of China initially evaluated using microfluidic dilution methods and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology. To control antibiotic resistance, genipin as natural product was used to combat MDR E. coli. Finally, the synergistic effect of genipin and norfloxacin on MDR E. coli was studied using time-kill curves to retard the resistance spread. A total of 126 E. coli strains were isolated from 154 collected fecal samples of dogs. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) results revealed that the highest detection rate of MDR E. coli appeared in Zhengzhou at 90.9 %, and the lowest in Shenyang at 10.0 %. The results of drug resistance gene testing indicated that the bla_TEM gene had the highest detection rate (99.2 %), then tetA and bla_CTX-M-1, whose detection rates all exceed 50 %. Furthermore, the MIC of genipin against MDR E. coli was found to be 4096 μg/mL, and genipin at ½ MIC demonstrated significant inhibition on MDR E. coli within 6 h. Finally, the combination of ¼ MIC genipin with ½ MIC norfloxacin showed partial synergistic inhibitory effect on MDR E. coli. Our findings suggest that although antibiotic resistance in canine origin E. coli varies across different regions of China, it remains concerning, and genipin shows potential as a treatment option for MDR E. coli infections.