The type VI secretion system as a potential predictor of subsequent bloodstream infection of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strains on intestinal colonization.

Background: The type VI secretion system (T6SS) has been recognized as a novel virulence factor in Klebsiella pneumoniae. This study investigated the occurrence of T6SS genes in carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) strains during intestinal colonization and evaluated their effect on the development of bloodstream infections.

Methods: The study encompassed 2,385 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and subjected to routine screening for intestinal colonization with CRKP.

Clinical evaluation of a multiplex droplet digital PCR for diagnosing suspected bloodstream infections: a prospective study.

Background: Though droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) has emerged as a promising tool for early pathogen detection in bloodstream infections (BSIs), more studies are needed to support its clinical application widely due to different ddPCR platforms with discrepant diagnostic performance. Additionally, there is still a lack of clinical data to reveal the association between pathogen loads detected by ddPCR and corresponding BSIs.

Methods: In this prospective study, 173 patients with suspected BSIs were enrolled.

Clarifying the Active Structure and Reaction Mechanism of Atomically Dispersed Metal and Nonmetal Sites with Enhanced Activity for Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

Atomically dispersed transition metal (ADTM) catalysts are widely implemented in energy conversion reactions, while the similar properties of TMs make it difficult to continuously improve the activity of ADTMs via tuning the composition of metals. Introducing nonmetal sites into ADTMs may help to effectively modulate the electronic structure of metals and significantly improve the activity. However, it is difficult to achieve the co-existence of ADTMs with nonmetal atoms and clarify their synergistic effect on the catalytic mechanism.

Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Combined with Sensory Evaluation for the Analysis of Volatile Aromatic Compounds in Apricot ( L.) Germplasm Resources Cultivated in Xinjiang, China.

The volatile compounds in the fruits of 24 apricot cultivars were quantitatively and qualitatively determined via headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS). A total of 429 volatile compounds were detected in these fruits, and the greatest number of detected terpenoids was 77. Significant differences were found among the cultivars in terms of the total volatile compound content of the fruits, with variation from 112.

Microbiological Characteristics, Risk Factors, and Short-Term Mortality of Carbapenem-Resistant Bloodstream Infections in Pediatric Patients in China: A 10-Year Longitudinal Study.

Background: Carbapenem-resistant (CRE) is rapidly becoming a major threat to hospitalized children worldwide. The purpose of this study was to summarize etiological characteristics and identify risk factors relevant to CRE bloodstream infection (BSI) and short-term mortality among pediatric patients in China.

Methods: In this study, we included 370 inpatients ≤17 years old with BSI caused by in China from January 2013 to December 2022.

A Rare Case of Infective Endocarditis with Recurrent Fever Caused by .

Background: , an opportunistic pathogen that can cause infections in multiple parts of the human body, has multiple drug resistance and a high mortality rate. However, there have been few reports of infective endocarditis (IE) caused by , which means that diagnosis and treatment face challenges that cannot be ignored. Rapid and accurate identification and drug sensitivity results are needed to make timely treatment adjustments.

Comprehensive evaluation of the distribution, transport and ecological risk of heavy metals in intra-urban river sediments using high-resolution techniques.

Determining the distribution trends, transport mechanisms, and ecological risks of heavy metals (HMs) in urban river sediments is essential for the government to conduct appropriate remediation work. In this study, we collected sediment cores from the Yayao Waterway in Foshan City, China. The vertical distribution profiles of dissolved and labile Fe, Mn, Cd, Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, As, and Co in the sediments were obtained using the thin-film diffusive gradient (DGT) and high-resolution peeper (HR-Peeper) techniques.

Semi-Supervised Coupled Thin-Plate Spline Model for Rotation Correction and Beyond.

Thin-plate spline (TPS) is a principal warp that allows for representing elastic, nonlinear transformation with control point motions. With the increase of control points, the warp becomes increasingly flexible but usually encounters a bottleneck caused by undesired issues, e.g.

Substantial decline of organ preservation fluid contamination following adoption of ischemia-free liver transplantation: a post-hoc analysis.

Introduction: Preservation fluid (PF) contaminations are common in conventional liver transplantation (CLT) and presumably originate from organ or PF exposures to the external environment in a non-strict sterile manner. Such exposures and PF contamination may be avoided in ischaemia-free liver transplantation (IFLT) because of the strict sterile surgical procedures. In this study, the authors evaluated the impact of IFLT on organ PF contamination.

Blood culture quality and turnaround time of clinical microbiology laboratories in Chinese Teaching Hospitals: A multicenter study.

Purpose: Blood culture (BC) remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of bloodstream infections. Improving the quality of clinical BC samples, optimizing BC performance, and accelerating antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) results are essential for the early detection of bloodstream infections and specific treatments.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective multicenter study using 450,845 BC specimens from clinical laboratories obtained from 19 teaching hospitals between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021.

Cylin-Painting: Seamless 360° Panoramic Image Outpainting and Beyond.

Image outpainting gains increasing attention since it can generate the complete scene from a partial view, providing a valuable solution to construct 360° panoramic images. As image outpainting suffers from the intrinsic issue of unidirectional completion flow, previous methods convert the original problem into inpainting, which allows a bidirectional flow. However, we find that inpainting has its own limitations and is inferior to outpainting in certain situations.

Microenvironment responsive charge-switchable nanoparticles act on biofilm eradication and virulence inhibition for chronic lung infection treatment.

Chronic pulmonary infection caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is a common lung disease with high mortality, posing severe threats to public health. Highly resistant biofilm and intrinsic resistance make P.

Whole genome analysis of echinocandin non-susceptible Candida Glabrata clinical isolates: a multi-center study in China.

Background: Candida glabrata is an important cause of invasive candidiasis. Echinocandins are the first-line treatment of invasive candidiasis caused by C. glabrata.

Dynamic evolution of ceftazidime-avibactam resistance due to interchanges between and during treatment of infection.

Background: The emergence of ceftazidime-avibactam (CZA) resistance among carbapenem-resistant (CRKP) is of major concern due to limited therapeutic options.

Methods: In this study, 10 CRKP strains were isolated from different samples of a patient with CRKP infection receiving CZA treatment. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and conjugation experiments were performed to determine the transferability of the carbapenem resistance gene.

Metabolomic and transcriptomice analyses of flavonoid biosynthesis in apricot fruits.

Introduction: Flavonoids, as secondary metabolites in plants, play important roles in many biological processes and responses to environmental factors.

Methods: Apricot fruits are rich in flavonoid compounds, and in this study, we performed a combined metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis of orange flesh (JN) and white flesh (ZS) apricot fruits.

Results And Discussion: A total of 222 differentially accumulated flavonoids (DAFs) and 15855 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in flavonoid biosynthesis were identified.

Exploring the third-generation tetracycline resistance of multidrug-resistant livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST9 across healthcare settings in China.

Background: The overuse of antibiotics in livestock is contributing to the burden of antimicrobial resistance in humans, representing a One Health challenge. Livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) has recently become a growing concern, and ST9 is the major LA-MRSA lineage in China and has emerged in clinical settings.

Methods: Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was used to evaluate the tetracycline resistance of ST9 MRSA collections, and gene cloning experiments were performed to explore the resistance mechanisms.

Deep Rotation Correction Without Angle Prior.

Not everybody can be equipped with professional photography skills and sufficient shooting time, and there can be some tilts in the captured images occasionally. In this paper, we propose a new and practical task, named Rotation Correction, to automatically correct the tilt with high content fidelity in the condition that the rotated angle is unknown. This task can be easily integrated into image editing applications, allowing users to correct the rotated images without any manual operations.

Evaluation of Implementation and Effectiveness of China's Antibiotic Stewardship in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.

Antibiotic stewardship has been prioritized by governments and health care organizations in recent years as antibiotic resistance is markedly increasing. A tertiary hospital in Guangzhou, China was chosen as a study example to undertake an implementation and effectiveness evaluation of China's antibiotic stewardship to improve and promote antimicrobial stewardship nationwide. The general surgery department of the study hospital was utilized to examine surgical site infection, and samples from across the hospital were used to identify bloodstream infection.

Application of next-generation sequencing on diagnosis of bloodstream infection caused by Mycoplasma hominis in a patient with ANCA-associated vasculitis.

Background: Mycoplasma hominis is one of the main opportunistic pathogenic mycoplasmas in humans which has a major impact on patients with bloodstream infections. Because it is difficult to detect or isolate, rapid and accurate diagnosis using improved methods is essential and still challenging for patients with bloodstream infection.

Case Presentation: In this case, we reported the application of next -generation sequencing for the diagnosis of bloodstream infection caused by Mycoplasma hominis in a patient with Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis.