Role of two-component regulatory systems in the virulence of Streptococcus suis.

Streptococcus suis is an important zoonotic pathogen that causes severe infections and great economic losses worldwide. Understanding how this pathogen senses and responds to environmental signals during the infectious process can offer insight into its pathogenesis and may be helpful in the development of drug targets. Two-component regulatory systems (TCSs) play an essential role in this environmental response.

Role of oxidative stress in pathology of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome and male infertility and antioxidants function in ameliorating oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress (OS) is a result of the imbalance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidants in the body that can cause tissue damage. Oxidative stress has a significant involvement in the pathogenesis of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) and male infertility. CP/CPPS is a major risk factor for male infertility due to generation of excessive ROS that damage sperm DNA, lipids, and proteins, resulting in compromised vitality and decreased sperm motility.

Warming delays the phenological sequences of an autumn-flowering invader.

Phenology can play an important role in driving plant invasions; however, little is known about how climate warming, nitrogen (N) deposition, and invasion stages influence the phenological sequences of autumn-flowering invaders in a subtropical climate. Accordingly, we conducted an experiment to address the effects of experimental warming, N-addition, and community types on the first inflorescence buds, flowering, seed-setting, and dieback of invasive . Warming delayed the onset of first inflorescence buds, flowering, seed-setting, and dieback; N-addition did not influence these four phenophases; community types influenced the onset of first seed-setting but not the other phenological phases.

Fasudil preserves lung endothelial function and reduces pulmonary vascular remodeling in a rat model of end‑stage pulmonary hypertension with left heart disease.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) due to left heart disease (LHD) is a common condition associated with significant morbidity. It contributes to the elevation of pulmonary vascular resistance and mean pulmonary pressure, eventually leading to heart failure and even mortality. The present study aimed to explore the potential efficacy of late and long‑term treatment with a Rho‑kinase (ROCK) signaling inhibitor, namely fasudil, in a rat model of end‑stage PH‑LHD.

Signature-tagged mutagenesis screening revealed the role of lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis gene rfbH in smooth-to-rough transition in Salmonella Enteritidis.

Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis, SE) is a major cause of foodborne diseases for humans. The completeness of the O-chain antigen of Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) determines whether a S.

A new Mumford-Shah total variation minimization based model for sparse-view x-ray computed tomography image reconstruction.

Total variation (TV) minimization for the sparse-view x-ray computer tomography (CT) reconstruction has been widely explored to reduce radiation dose. However, due to the piecewise constant assumption for the TV model, the reconstructed images often suffer from over-smoothness on the image edges. To mitigate this drawback of TV minimization, we present a Mumford-Shah total variation (MSTV) minimization algorithm in this paper.

Cardiac support device (ASD) delivers bone marrow stem cells repetitively to epicardium has promising curative effects in advanced heart failure.

Ventricular restraint therapy is a non-transplant surgical option for the management of advanced heart failure (HF). To augment the therapeutic applications, it is hypothesized that ASD shows remarkable capabilities not only in delivering stem cells but also in dilated ventricles. Male SD rats were divided into four groups (n = 6): normal, HF, HF + ASD, and HF + ASD-BMSCs respectively.

HMGB1-containing nucleosome mediates chemotherapy-induced metastasis of human lung cancer.

While chemotherapy is an important and widely used therapeutic for cancer, it may facilitate cancer metastasis. Herein, we report that human lung cancer cells exert higher invasion and metastasis after chemotherapy. In a human lung cancer xenograft model, chemotherapy promotes the cancer invasion and metastasis in HMGB1-dependent manner.

VqsA, a Novel LysR-Type Transcriptional Regulator, Coordinates Quorum Sensing (QS) and Is Controlled by QS To Regulate Virulence in the Pathogen Vibrio alginolyticus.

The quorum sensing (QS) system controls bacterial group behaviors in response to cell density. In vibrios, LuxR and AphA are two master QS regulators (MQSRs) controlling gene expression in response to high or low cell density. Other regulators involved in the regulation of these two MQSRs and QS pathways remain to be determined.

Application of a phage in decontaminating Vibrio parahaemolyticus in oysters.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a major pathogen that is mainly associated with seafood and is a global concern of food safety. With high prevalence of contamination in food, efficient strategy is needed to decontaminate those contaminated foods and control the emergence of vibriosis. In the present study, a V.

Elevated Expression of miR302-367 in Endothelial Cells Inhibits Developmental Angiogenesis via CDC42/CCND1 Mediated Signaling Pathways.

Angiogenesis is critical for embryonic development and microRNAs fine-tune this process, but the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Endothelial cell (EC) specific miR302-367 line was used as gain-of-function and anti-miRs as loss-of-function models to investigate the effects of miR302-367 on developmental angiogenesis with embryonic hindbrain vasculature as an model and fibrin gel beads and tube formation assay as models. Cell migration was evaluated by Boyden chamber and scratch wound healing assay and cell proliferation by cell count, MTT assay, Ki67 immunostaining and PI cell cycle analysis.

Cardio-supportive devices (VRD & DCC device) and patches for advanced heart failure: A review, summary of state of the art and future directions.

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a complicated pathophysiological syndrome, leading cause of hospitalization as well as mortalities in developed countries wherein an irregular function of the heart leads to the insufficient blood supply to the body organs. It is an accumulative slackening of various complications including myocardial infarction (MI), coronary heart disease (CAD), hypertension, valvular heart disease (VHD) and cardiomyopathy; its hallmarks include hypertrophy, increased interstitial fibrosis and loss of myocytes. The etiology of CHF is very complex and despite the rapid advancement in pharmacological and device-based interventional therapies still, a single therapy may not be sufficient to meet the demand for coping with the diseases.

Preparation of bio-based magnetic adsorbent and application for efficient removal of Cd(II) from water.

A novel magnetic bio-adsorbent (MCIA) was developed, characterized and tested for its Cd(II) removal from aqueous solution. MCIA could be easily separated from the solution after equilibrium adsorption due to its super-paramagnetic property. The functional and magnetic bio-material was an attractive adsorbent for the removal of Cd(II) from aqueous solution owing to the abundant adsorption sites, amino-group and oxygen-containing groups on the surface of Cyclosorus interruptus.

Immunization with recombinant Salmonella expressing SspH2-EscI protects mice against wild type Salmonella infection.

Background: Enhancing caspase-1 activation in macrophages is helpful for the clearance of intracellular bacteria in mice. Our previous studies have shown that EscI, an inner rod protein of type III system in E. coli can enhance caspase-1 activation.

Pharmacological values and therapeutic properties of black tea (Camellia sinensis): A comprehensive overview.

Medicinal plants are essential parts of traditional medicine due to their phytochemical constituents having pharmacological values and therapeutic applications. Black tea have thousands of various biological compounds such as flavonoids (Thearubigins (TRs) and theaflavins (TFs) and catechins), amino acids (L.theanine), vitamins (A, C, K), phenolic acids (caffeic acid (CA), gallic acid (GA), chlorogenic acids (CGA) and cauramic acid), lipids, proteins, volatile compounds carbohydrates, β-carotene and fluoride that illustrated many promising pharmacological effects regarded as growth promoter, cardioprotector, potent cholesterol-lowering effect, antioxidant and antimicrobial, etc inhuman.

Molecular Cloning and Characterization of a Wild Eggplant Solanum aculeatissimum NBS-LRR Gene, Involved in Plant Resistance to Meloidogyne incognita.

Root-knot nematodes, spp., cause considerable damage in eggplant production. Transferring of resistance genes from wild relatives would be valuable for the continued improvement of eggplant.

Combination of multilocus sequence typing and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis reveals an association of molecular clonality with the emergence of extensive-drug resistance (XDR) in Salmonella.

Salmonellae is one of the most important foodborne pathogens and becomes resistant to multiple antibiotics, which represents a significant challenge to food industry and public health. However, a molecular signature that can be used to distinguish antimicrobial resistance profile, particularly multi-drug resistance or extensive-drug resistance (XDR). In the current study, 168 isolates from the chicken and pork production chains and ill chickens were characterized by serotyping, antimicrobial susceptibility test, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

Phage Application for the Protection from Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND) in .

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) caused by has been one of the most problematic diseases in marine shrimp aquaculture throughout Southeast Asia and Latin America. To evaluate the effectiveness of a bacteriophage (phage) treatment for AHPND, a series of bioassays were carried out in a marine shrimp () model using an AHPND- strain that is highly pathogenic to shrimp. We monitored the mortality and histopathological changes during phage treatment.

BANK1 alters B cell responses and influences the interactions between B cells and induced T regulatory cells in mice with collagen-induced arthritis.

Background: Functional variants of the B cell gene, B cell scaffold protein with ankyrin repeats 1 (BANK1) contribute to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) susceptibility, but their influences on B cell responses are unclear. Moreover, the function of induced T regulatory cells (iTregs) in the inflammatory milieu in a collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model is unknown. This study was performed to investigate the roles of BANK1 in CIA and the interaction between B cells and iTregs.

The promising future of ventricular restraint therapy for the management of end-stage heart failure.

Complicated pathophysiological syndrome associated with irregular functioning of the heart leading to insufficient blood supply to the organs is linked to congestive heart failure (CHF) which is the leading cause of death in developed countries. Numerous factors can add to heart failure (HF) pathogenesis, including myocardial infarction (MI), genetic factors, coronary artery disease (CAD), ischemia or hypertension. Presently, most of the therapies against CHF cause modest symptom relief but incapable of giving significant recovery for long-term survival outcomes.

Serine/threonine kinase PpkA coordinates the interplay between T6SS2 activation and quorum sensing in the marine pathogen Vibrio alginolyticus.

Type VI secretion systems (T6SS) are multiprotein secretion machines that can mediate killing of bacterial cells and thereby modify the composition of bacterial communities. The mechanisms that control the production of and secretion of these killing machines are incompletely understood, although quorum sensing (QS) and the PpkA kinase modulate T6SS activity in some organisms. Here we investigated control the T6S in the marine organism Vibrio alginolyticus EPGS, which encodes two T6SS systems (T6SS1 and T6SS2).

[Roles of macrophage-mediated epithelial mesenchymal transdifferentiation in fibrotic diseases].

It is reported that fibrotic changes seemed to be associated with poor prognosis in patients with organ dysfunction, unfortunately no effective treatment existed currently. Recent studies have demonstrated that macrophages can interact with epithelial cells to induce epithelial mesenchymal transdifferentiation (EMT) which is thought to play a key role in the pathogenesis of a variety of fibrotic diseases. Therefore, this review will summarize the potential role of macrophages in the molecular mechanisms of EMT-associated fibrosis.

Correlation between gene and mild cognitive impairment in the Uygur and Han populations of Xinjiang.

The secretive Klotho protein is an anti-aging regulatory hormone that plays a physiological role in many target organs. The present study aims to investigate the correlation between gene and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Uygur and Han populations in Xinjiang. From July 2008 to April 2014, stratified random multistage cluster sampling was used in combination with the methods of on-site questionnaire and household survey to conduct a cross-sectional MCI investigation on selected Uygur and Han subjects aged over 60 years old in Xinjiang region.

Chlorogenic acid (CGA): A pharmacological review and call for further research.

Phenolic acids have recently gained substantial attention due to their various practical, biological and pharmacological effects. Chlorogenic Acid (CGA, 3-CQA) is a most abundant isomer among caffeoylquinic acid isomers (3-, 4-, and 5-CQA), that currently known as 5-CQA as per guidelines of IUPAC. It is one of the most available acids among phenolic acid compounds which can be naturally found in green coffee extracts and tea.