subtilisin-like serine proteases SspA-1 and SspA-2 interplay with complement C3a and C5a to facilitate bacterial immune evasion and infection.

(), a significant zoonotic bacterial pathogen impacting swine and human, is associated with severe systemic diseases such as streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome, meningitis, septicaemia, and abrupt fatality. The multifaceted roles of complement components C5a and C3a extend to orchestrating inflammatory cells recruitment, oxidative burst induction, and cytokines release. Despite the pivotal role of subtilisin-like serine proteases in pathogenicity, their involvement in immune evasion remains underexplored.

First result from the Jinping Underground Nuclear Astrophysics experiment JUNA: precise measurement of the 92 keV Mg(p, γ)Al resonance.

The Mg(p, γ)Al reaction plays an important role in the study of cosmic 1.809 MeV γ-ray as a signature of ongoing nucleosynthesis in the Galaxy. At astrophysical temperature around 0.

Nexus of Stochastic and Deterministic Processes on Microbial Community Assembly in Biological Systems.

Microbial community assembly in engineered biological systems is often simultaneously influenced by stochastic and deterministic processes, and the nexus of these two mechanisms remains to be further investigated. Here, three lab-scale activated sludge reactors were seeded with identical inoculum and operated in parallel under eight different sludge retention time (SRT) by sequentially reducing the SRT from 15 days to 1 day. Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing data, the microbial populations at the start-up (15-day SRT) and SRT-driven (≤10-day SRT) phases were observed to be noticeably different.

Direct treatment of high-strength soft drink wastewater using a down-flow hanging sponge reactor: performance and microbial community dynamics.

A stand-alone down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) system with a two-stage configuration was operated for 700 days to treat synthetic soft drink wastewater at 3000 mg/L chemical oxygen demand (COD). Throughout the operation, >90% COD and total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency was obtained by the first stage, and a final effluent of COD <60 mg/L (TOC <20 mg/L) was consistently maintained with the second stage. Lower organic removal efficiency was observed to closely correlate with lower pH, higher volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration, and higher suspended solid (SS) in the effluent.