Current genetic studies (e.g. gene knockout) have suggested that EsxA and EsxB function as secreted virulence factors that are essential for Mycobaterium tuberculosis (Mtb) intracellular survival, specifically in mediating phagosome rupture and translocation of Mtb to the cytosol of host cells, which further facilitates Mtb intracellular replicating and cell-to-cell spreading. The EsxA-mediated intracellular survival is presumably achieved by its pH-dependent membrane-permeabilizing activity (MPA). However, the data from other studies have generated a discrepancy regarding the...

Patients with depression have a high prevalence of developing dyslipidemia. In this study, we aim to investigate the difference of serum lipids, including total cholesterol (TCH), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG), between the depressed patients and healthy controls. Sex differences in lipids and their psychological correlations were also included. The study included 56 healthy controls (males/females = 26/30) and 110 first-diagnosed drug-naïve outpatients (males/females = 35/75). A total of...

The present study explored the cooperative effect of both alanine (Ala) and gentamicin (Gent) on metabolic mechanisms by which exogenous Ala potentiates Gent to kill antibiotic-resistant Vibrio alginolyticus. To test this, GC-MS-based metabolomics was used to characterize Ala-, Gent- and both-induced metabolic profiles, identifying nitric oxide (NO) production pathway as the most key clue to understand metabolic mechanisms. Gent, Ala and both led to low, lower and lowest activity of total nitric oxide synthase (tNOS)...

Growth performance and meat quality are important traits for pig production. The aim of the present study was to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying growth performance and meat quality, and to identify novel target molecules for predicting the growth performance and meat quality. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in Diannan small ears pigs (DSP) and Landrace pigs (LP) were assessed by RNA-sequencing analyzing technology. A total of 339 DEGs were obtained between DSP and LP....

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. Microbiota is believed to be associated with GC. Growing evidences showed Helicobacter pylori played a key role in GC development. However, little was known about the microbiota in gastric juices and tissues in GC patients, and thus it was difficult to understand other potential microbial causation for GC. Here, we collected the gastric juice...

The S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase (Sah1) plays a crucial role in methylation and lipid metabolism in yeast and mammals, yet its function remains elusive in filamentous fungi. In this study, we characterized Sah1 in the phytopathogenic fungus F. graminearum by generating knockout and knockout-complemented strains of FgSAH1. We found that the FgSah1-GFP fusion protein was localized to the cytoplasm, and that deletion of FgSAH1 resulted in defects in vegetative growth, asexual and sexual reproduction, stress responses, virulence,...

The S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase (Sah1) plays a crucial role in methylation and lipid metabolism in yeast and mammals, yet its function remains elusive in filamentous fungi. In this study, we characterized Sah1 in the phytopathogenic fungus F. graminearum by generating knockout and knockout-complemented strains of FgSAH1. We found that the FgSah1-GFP fusion protein was localized to the cytoplasm, and that deletion of FgSAH1 resulted in defects in vegetative growth, asexual and sexual reproduction, stress responses, virulence,...

Techniques to reduce the energy burden of an industrial ecosystem often require solving a multiobjective optimization problem. However, collecting experimental data can often be either expensive or time-consuming. In such cases, statistical methods can be helpful. This article proposes Pareto Front (PF) and Pareto Set (PS) estimation methods using Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART), which is a nonparametric model whose assumptions are typically less restrictive than popular alternatives, such as Gaussian Processes (GPs). These less...

Four new cembrane diterpenes, 1,13-di-epi-13-acetoxy launine P (1), 13-oxo-thunbergol (2), isocrassumol B (3) and 7α, 8α-sarcophine (4), together with two known launine P (5) and sarcophytonin B (6), were isolated from the extract of the South China Sea soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum. The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis, ECD analysis and comparison with literature data. All compounds were tested for their antimicrobial activity and antiviral activity. Compounds 1, 2 and 5 were found to...

The present study explored the cooperative effect of both alanine (Ala) and gentamicin (Gent) on metabolic mechanisms by which exogenous Ala potentiates Gent to kill antibiotic-resistant Vibrio alginolyticus. To test this, GC-MS-based metabolomics was used to characterize Ala-, Gent- and both-induced metabolic profiles, identifying nitric oxide (NO) production pathway as the most key clue to understand metabolic mechanisms. Gent, Ala and both led to low, lower and lowest activity of total nitric oxide synthase (tNOS)...

Genetic analysis of porcine growth and fatness traits is beneficial to the swine industry and provides a reference to understand human obesity. Here, we obtained 29 growth and fatness traits for 473 individuals from a White Duroc × Erhualian F3 intercross population. Basic statistical analyses showed that: (1) Positive correlations between different-stage body weights were detected, the shorter the time interval the stronger the correlation. (2) Strong correlations existed in the paired fatness traits. (3)...

New SARS-CoV-2 mutants have been continuously indentified with enhanced transmission ever since its outbreak in early 2020. As an RNA virus, SARS-CoV-2 has a high mutation rate due to the low fidelity of RNA polymerase. To study the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) dynamics of SARS-CoV-2, 158 SNPs with high confidence were identified by deep meta-transcriptomic sequencing, and the most common SNP type was C > T. Analyses of intra-host population diversity revealed that intra-host quasispecies’...

It was found that bisphenol F (BPF) could be anaerobically transformed to 4,4-dihydroxybenzophenone using nitrate as an electron acceptor by Pseudomonas sp. LS. However, BPF removal was a slow process under anaerobic conditions. In the present study, effects of graphene oxide (GO) and graphene on the anaerobic transformation of BPF were studied in detail. Results showed that GO (2-10 mg/L) and graphene (2-20 mg/L) could increase anaerobic biotransformation rate of BPF. For GO-mediated system, GO...

It was found that bisphenol F (BPF) could be anaerobically transformed to 4,4-dihydroxybenzophenone using nitrate as an electron acceptor by Pseudomonas sp. LS. However, BPF removal was a slow process under anaerobic conditions. In the present study, effects of graphene oxide (GO) and graphene on the anaerobic transformation of BPF were studied in detail. Results showed that GO (2–10 mg/L) and graphene (2–20 mg/L) could increase the anaerobic biotransformation rate of BPF. For GO-mediated system,...

To obtain additional insight into the genetic factors of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). First, we performed a transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) integrating human cerebellum-specific variant-expression/splicing correlations to identify ADHD susceptibility genes. Then, the associations between expression/splicing quantitative trait loci (eQTLs/sQTLs) of the transcriptome-wide significant genes and ADHD were observed in a case-control study of Han Chinese children. Furthermore, dual luciferase reporter gene assays were performed to validate the regulatory function of ADHD risk variants....

Pumpkin is one of the region’s main cashcrops in northeast China cultivated for its edible seed and sarcocarp. Gummy stem blight (GSB), caused by the main pathogenic fungus of Stagonosporopsis cucurbitacearum (Sc.) which was identified in our previous study, has hampered pumpkin industry development with the affection of its reduced biological yield and edible quality. To clear the plant immune response mechanisms against Sc. infection, RNA-seq technology was employed to sequence pumpkin leaf transcriptome, the...

Study Design:A radiological study and workshop.Objective:To propose a novel technique for subaxial cervical pedicle screw (CPS) insertion via the nonanatomic axis (nAA) and identify a new entry point (EP) and trajectory based on a radiological study.Methods:The new EP was determined to be the center of the upper half of the lateral mass, and the nAA was defined as the line connecting the EP and center of the pedicle. CT images of 493 subaxial cervical pedicles...

In randomized clinical trials, there has been an increasing interest in identifying subgroups with heterogeneous responses to study treatment based on baseline patient characteristics. Even though the benefit risk assessment of any patient population or subgroups is almost always a multi-facet consideration, the statistical literature of subgroup identification has largely been limited to a single clinical outcome. In the article, we propose a nonparametric method that searches for subgroup membership scores by maximizing a value...

The emergence and recurrence of ovarian cancer are associated with ovarian cancer stem cells. For cancer treatment, gene delivery of microbubbles (MB)-mediated microRNA (miRNA) is considered as a promising approach. In this study, our aim is to investigate the effects of MB-mediated let-7b-5p inhibitor on the proliferation and stemness characteristics of ovarian cancer (OVCA) cells. Let-7b-5p inhibitor mediated by MB was prepared (termed MB-let-7b-5p inhibitor), and the effects of MB-let-7b-5p inhibitor and let-7b-5p inhibitor on...

The study aimed to construct a clinical model based on preoperative data for predicting acute kidney injury (AKI) following cardiac surgery in patients with normal renal function. A total of 22,348 consecutive patients with normal renal function undergoing cardiac surgery were enrolled. Among them, 15,701 were randomly selected for the training group and the remaining for the validation group. To develop a model visualized as a nomogram for predicting AKI, logistic regression was performed with...

This study sought to investigate incidence and risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) in hospitalized COVID-19. In this retrospective study, we enrolled 823 COVID-19 patients with at least two evaluations of renal function during hospitalization from four hospitals in Wuhan, China between February 2020 and April 2020. Clinical and laboratory parameters at the time of admission and follow-up data were recorded. Systemic renal tubular dysfunction was evaluated via 24-h urine collections in a subgroup...

This study sought to investigate incidence and risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) in hospitalized COVID-19. In this retrospective study, we enrolled 823 COVID-19 patients with at least two evaluations of renal function during hospitalization from four hospitals in Wuhan, China between February 2020 and April 2020. Clinical and laboratory parameters at the time of admission and follow-up data were recorded. Systemic renal tubular dysfunction was evaluated via 24-h urine collections in a subgroup...

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common type with poor prognosis in kidney tumor. Growing evidence has indicated that aberrant alternative splicing (AS) events are efficacious signatures for tumor prognosis prediction and therapeutic targets. However, the detailed roles of AS events in ccRCC are largely unknown. In our study, level 3 RNA-seq data was acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset and corresponding AS profiles were detected with the assistance of SpliceSeq...

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common type with poor prognosis in kidney tumor. Growing evidence has indicated that aberrant alternative splicing (AS) events are efficacious signatures for tumor prognosis prediction and therapeutic targets. However, the detailed roles of AS events in ccRCC are largely unknown. In our study, level 3 RNA-seq data was acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset and corresponding AS profiles were detected with the assistance of SpliceSeq...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder that poses a great threat to women's health. MiR-1224-5p is downregulated in the follicular fluid of patients with PCOS, but its role remains largely unknown. In this study, mice were treated with dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) to establish an in vivo model of PCOS. We found that enhanced activation of NLRP3 inflammasome was accompanied by downregulation of miR-1224-5p in ovarian tissue of PCOS mice. The effect of miR-1224-5p...