A designed synthetic microbiota provides insight to community function in Clostridioides difficile resistance.

Clostridioides difficile, a major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, is suppressed by the gut microbiome, but the precise mechanisms are not fully described. Through a meta-analysis of 12 human studies, we designed a synthetic fecal microbiota transplant (sFMT1) by reconstructing microbial networks negatively associated with C. difficile colonization.

StrainR2 accurately deconvolutes strain-level abundances in synthetic microbial communities.

Background: Synthetic microbial communities offer an opportunity to conduct reductionist research in tractable model systems. However, deriving abundances of highly related strains within these communities is currently unreliable. 16S rRNA gene sequencing does not resolve abundance at the strain level, standard methods for analysis of shotgun metagenomic sequencing do not account for ambiguous mapping between closely related strains, and other methods such as quantitative PCR (qPCR) scale poorly and are resource prohibitive for complex communities.

Making gut microbiomes from scratch.

Studying the microbiome presents a challenge: how do we untangle the interactions of microbes at ecologically relevant scales? We highlight research by Afrizal et al. and Cheng et al., which help to solve this problem through the generation and characterization of complex synthetic communities derived from lab-grown microbes.

A practical method to screen and identify functioning biomarkers in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare malignancy, with the unique geographical and ethnically characteristics of distribution. Gene chip and bioinformatics have been employed to reveal regulatory mechanisms in current functional genomics. However, a practical solution addressing the unresolved aspects of microarray data processing and analysis have been long pursuit.

Dextran sulfate sodium mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease evaluated for systemic genotoxicity via blood micronucleus and Pig-a gene mutation assays.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an important risk factor for gastrointestinal cancers. Inflammation and other carcinogenesis-related effects at distal, tissue-specific sites require further study. In order to better understand if systemic genotoxicity is associated with IBD, we exposed mice to dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS) and measured the incidence of micronucleated cells (MN) and Pig-a mutant phenotype cells in blood erythrocyte populations.

3Rs-friendly approach to exogenous metabolic activation that supports high-throughput genetic toxicology testing.

MultiFlow® DNA Damage-p53, γH2AX, Phospho-Histone H3 is a miniaturized, flow cytometry-based assay that provides genotoxic mode of action information by distinguishing clastogens, aneugens, and nongenotoxicants. Work to date has focused on the p53-competent human cell line TK6. While mammalian cell genotoxicity assays typically supply exogenous metabolic activation in the form of concentrated rat liver S9, this is a less-than-ideal approach for several reasons, including 3Rs considerations.

UGM: a more stable procedure for large-scale multiple testing problems, new solutions to identify oncogene.

Variations of gene expression levels play an important role in tumors. There are numerous methods to identify differentially expressed genes in high-throughput sequencing. Several algorithms endeavor to identify distinctive genetic patterns susceptable to particular diseases.

In vitro evaluation of marrow clot enrichment on microstructure decoration, cell delivery and proliferation of porous titanium scaffolds by selective laser melting three-dimensional printing.

Titanium alloy is a clinically approved material for bone substitution. Although three-dimensional printing (3DP) fabrication technique can build up porous Ti scaffolds with the designed shape and microstructure, the biomechanical performance of 3DP Ti scaffolds still need to be improved to increase the reliability of osseointegration capacity. To address this issue, rabbit bone marrow clot (MC) is used to modify 3DP Ti scaffolds by stem cell delivery and microenvironment decoration inside the pores of these scaffolds.

Application of 3D printing rapid prototyping-assisted percutaneous fixation in the treatment of intertrochanteric fracture.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the application of 3D printing (3DP) rapid prototyping (RP) technique-assisted percutaneous fixation in the treatment of femoral intertrochanteric fracture (ITF) using proximal femoral nail anti-rotation (PFNA). A total of 39 patients with unstable ITF were included in the current study. Patients were divided into two groups: 19 patients were examined using computed tomography scanning and underwent PFNA with SDP-RP whereas the other 20 patients underwent conventional PFNA treatment.

[MRNA expression of complement C3 and C4 in rat nasal mucosa with allergic rhinitis].

Objective: To investigate the level of mRNA expression of complement C3 and C4 in rat nasal mucosa and to reveal the relationship with the pathogenesis of allergic rhinitis (AR) .

Methods: Twenty healthy SD rats were randomly divided into AR group and control group, 10 rats for each group. Ten rats was sensitized and intranasally challenged by ovalbumin and Al (OH)3 (as supplement) as allergic rhinitis models, and the control group was treated by saline.