A novel cross-priming amplification technique combined with lateral flow strips for rapid and visual detection of zoonotic Toxoplasma gondii.

Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular protozoan, infects almost all warm-blooded animals and humans, with felines serving as its sole definitive hosts. Cats release T. gondii oocysts into the environment through feces, contributing to environmental contamination that can lead to toxoplasmosis in humans upon exposure through ingestion of contaminated food, water, or soil.

Live-attenuated PruΔgra72 strain of Toxoplasma gondii induces strong protective immunity against acute and chronic toxoplasmosis in mice.

Background: Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular opportunistic pathogenic protozoan that poses serious threats, particularly in immunocompromised individuals. In the absence of a robust prophylactic measure, the mitigation and management of toxoplasmosis present formidable challenges to public health. We recently found that GRA72 plays an important role in parasitophorous vacuole (PV) morphology, growth and virulence of T.

Clinical Characteristics and Blood Test Results in COVID-19 Patients.

Objective: An outbreak of pneumonia named COVID-19 caused by a novel coronavirus in Wuhan is rapidly spreading worldwide. The objective of the present study was to clarify further the clinical characteristics and blood parameters in COVID-19 patients.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-three suspected patients and 64 patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-Cov-2 infection were admitted to a designated hospital.

Influence of Ceramic Debris on Osteoblast Behaviors: An In Vivo Study.

Objective: Wear-induced aseptic loosening has been accepted as one of the main reasons for failure of total hip arthroplasty. Ceramic wear debris is generated following prosthesis implantation and plays an important part in the upregulation of inflammatory factors in total hip arthroplasty. The present study investigates the influence of ceramic debris on osteoblasts and inflammatory factors.

PCAF acetylates Runx2 and promotes osteoblast differentiation.

Osteoblasts play a crucial role in bone formation. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in osteoblast differentiation remain largely unclear. Runt-related gene 2 (Runx2) is a master transcriptional factor for osteoblast differentiation.

[Progress on interface membrane around prostheses].

Aseptic loosening is one of the most frequent long-term complications after joint replacement,which limits the service life of prostheses. A lot of studies have been focused on interface membranes around prostheses recently. In interface membranes, there are plenty of macrophagocytes and desmocytes,which play vital roles in osteolysis.

Polyester-degrading thermophilic actinomycetes isolated from different environment in Taiwan.

Thermophilic actinomycetes strains were isolated from various environment in Taiwan and screened for degradation of poly(ethylene succinate) (PES), poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) and/or poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) by the clear-zone method. Out of 341 strains of thermophilic actinomycetes, 105 isolates were PHB-degraders (30.8%), 198 isolates were PCL-decomposers (58.

Production of xylooligosaccharides from xylans by extracellular xylanases from Thermobifida fusca.

Xylooligosaccharides are produced for use as a valuable food sweetener or additive. They have many beneficial biomedical and health effects. In this study, a process for producing xylooligosaccharides from lignocellulolytic agricultural waste was developed.

Amycolatopsis taiwanensis sp. nov., from soil.

An actinomycete strain (0345M-7(T)) was isolated from a soil sample from Yilan county, Taiwan. The isolate displayed substrate mycelia, upon which were borne short spore chains. The spore chains were composed of non-motile, smooth-surfaced, oval spores.

Discovery of ultrahigh-T spinel-garnet granulite with pure CO2 fluid inclusions from the Altay orogenic belt, NW China.

We first report discovery of the spinel-garnet-orthopyroxene granulite with pure CO2 fluid inclusions from the Fuyun region of the late Paleozoic Altay orogenic belt in Central Asia, NW China. The rock is characterized by an assemblage of garnet, orthopyroxene, spinel, cordierite, biotite, plagioclase and quartz. Symplectites of orthopyroxene and spinel, and orthopyroxene and cordierite indicate decompression under UHT conditions.

Petrology, geochemistry and geodynamics of basic granulite from the Altay area, North Xinjiang, China.

The basic granulite of the Altay orogenic belt occurs as tectonic lens in the Devonian medium- to lower-grade metamorphic beds through fault contact. The Altay granulite (AG) is an amphibole plagioclase two-pyroxene granulite and is mainly composed of two pyroxenes, plagioclase, amphibole and biotite. Its melano-minerals are rich in Mg/(Mg+Fe2+), and its amphibole and biotite are rich in TiO2.