Dynamic pharyngeal carriage of Neisseria species in healthy population.

Considering the significant role of commensal Neisseria carried in the pharynx on the variation of N.meningitidis and the acquisition of its resistance genes, understanding the true Neisseria population colonizing the human pharynx is of great significance. In this study, we carried out a five-month continuous survey of oropharyngeal carriage in a certain healthy population to reveal the long-term carriage status of different Neisseria species. Totally, 419 Neisseria strains were isolated from 203 out of 205 pharyngeal swabs of 49 participants. Using combined methods (MALDI-TOF-MS, rplF sequencing and genome sequencing), the isolates were identified as N.subflava (n = 290), N.mucosa (n = 52), N.oralis (n = 8), N.elongata group (n = 6) and non-species-confirmed (n = 63). N.subflava was isolated from all individuals and 168 swabs (81.95 %). N.mucosa, N.oralis, N.elongata and non-species-confirmed were isolated from 25 (45), 6 (7), 4 (5) and 20 (53) individuals (swabs) respectively. It was common that multiple Neisseria spp. or multiple clones of one species were isolated from a single sample. An identical strain could be isolated frequently from a single person within five months. These results indicate that Neisseria spp. and N.subflava are ubiquitous in human pharynx and both have diverse population; we should pay more attention to them when studying N.meningitidis or other respiratory pathogens; robust and handy method for identifying Neisseria species remains to be developed.

Eco-Friendly and Facile Synthesis of Antioxidant, Antibacterial and Anticancer Dihydromyricetin-Mediated Silver Nanoparticles.

BACKGROUND: Dihydromyricetin (DMY), a natural flavonoid, has reportedly antibacterial, antioxidant, anticancer and other properties. In the present study, DMY was used as a reducing agent and stabilizer to synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), and the optimal conditions for its synthesis were studied. The DMY-AgNPs were investigated for their DPPH scavenging properties and their potential against human pathogenic and food-borne bacteria viz. Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Salmonella. In addition, DMY-AgNPs also showed excellent inhibitory effects on cancer Hela, HepG2 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. METHODS: The dihydromyricetin-mediated AgNPs (DMY-AgNPs) were characterized by ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer (UV-Vis spectra), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). Antioxidant activity of DMY-AgNPs was determined by 1.1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging. The antibacterial activity was determined by 96-well plate (AGAR) gradient dilution, while anticancer potential was determined by MTT assay. RESULTS: The results showed that the dispersion of AgNPs had the maximum UV-visible absorption at about 410 nm. The synthesized nanoparticles were almost spherical. FTIR was used to identify functional groups that may lead to the transformation of metal ions into nanoparticles. The results showed that the prepared AgNPs were coated with biological molecules in the extraction solution. The biosynthesized DMY-AgNPs exhibited good antioxidant properties, at various concentrations (0.01-0.1mg/mL), the free radical scavenging rate was about 56-92%. Furthermore, DMY-AgNPs possessed good antibacterial properties against Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Salmonella at room temperature. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were 10-6 g/L, and 10-4 g/L, respectively. The bioactivity of DMY-mediated AgNPs was studied using MTT assay against Hela, HepG2 and MDA-MB-231 cancer cell lines, and all showed good inhibitory effects. CONCLUSION: The present study provides a green approach for the synthesis of DMY-AgNPs which exhibited stronger antioxidant, antibacterial and anticancer properties compared to the dihydromyricetin. DMY-AgNPs can serve as an economical, efficient, and effective antimicrobial material for its applications in food and pharmaceutical fields.

Association of Chemotactic Chemokine Ligand 5 Polymorphisms with the Risk of Developing Severe Enterovirus 71 Infection.

Respiratory damage is a main manifestation of severe Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection. Polymorphisms of -403G/A (rs2107538), -28C/G (rs2280788), and In1.1T/C (rs2280789) in chemotactic chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) have linked with many respiratory diseases. In this study, we explored the possible correlation of CCL5 polymorphisms with severe EV71 infection. Blood samples were obtained from 87 children hospitalized for EV71 infection. Fifty-seven healthy children were enrolled as asymptomatic controls. Genotype and allele frequencies were analyzed by logistic regression analysis. There were statistically significant differences in polymorphisms of CCL5 -403G/A and In1.1T/C for dominant model (P = 0.016; P = 0.027) and additive model (P = 0.010; P = 0.019) between patients with severe EV71 infection and asymptomatic controls. With ordinal logistic regression model analysis, statistically significant differences were found between polymorphisms of CCL5 (-403G/A) (P = 0.034) with the severity of EV71 infection after adjusting for age. The frequency of A-C-C haplotype was significantly higher in EV71 infection patients than controls (P = 0.032). These results suggest that CCL5 -403G/A and In1.1T/C polymorphisms may contribute to severe EV71 infection and individuals with haplotype of A-C-C may exhibit higher risk of developing severe EV71 infection. These findings may provide insights into pathogenic and protective mechanisms of severe EV71 infection.

Application of multiple-locus variable number tandem repeat analysis to identify outbreak-associated Neisseria meningitides serogroup C sequence type 4821 in China.

Neisseria meningitidis (N. meningitidis) serogroup C sequence type (ST)-4821 caused an outbreak in 2010 in Shandong province of China. Twenty-one non-outbreak-associated strains were isolated, along with twenty-eight N. meningitides serogroup C ST-4821 isolates. Therefore, it's essential to identify and clarify characterization of the real outbreak-associated strains with a rapid method during an outbreak investigation. In this study, multiple-locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) was applied to analyze 84 N. meningitidis strains, among which 58 were recovered from two outbreaks and 26 were sporadic isolates. Three MLVA schemes with different combination of VNTR loci were tested, and two of them were suitable for isolates from China: scheme 2 with six loci was found to separate ST into finer resolution, and scheme 3 with five loci can be used to identify outbreak-associated isolates from the same outbreak that caused by N. meningitidis serogroup C ST-4821.

Distribution and bioaccumulation of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in food web of Nansi Lake, China.

The concentration of 12 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were measured in water, sediment, aquatic plant, and animal (shrimp and fish) of Nansi Lake by gas chromatography equipped with an electron capture detector. The total OCPs concentrations were 65.31-100.31 ng L(-1) in water, 2.9-6.91 ng g(-1) dry weight (dw) in sediments, 1.29-6.42 ng g(-1) dw in aquatic plants and 7.57-17.22 ng g(-1) dw in animals. The OCPs composition profiles showed that heptachlor compounds was also the predominant OCPs contaminants in addition to hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) in Nansi Lake. According to the source of HCHs and DDTs in sediment samples, there was no new input and the HCHs pollution mainly came from the use of Lindane in Nansi Lake. Bioaccumulation of OCPs in aquatic biota indicated that DDTs and heptachlor compounds had a strong accumulation, followed by HCHs and drins. The accumulation abilities of fish for OCPs were higher than those of plants and shrimps. The OCPs biota-sediment accumulation factor values of Channa argus was the highest in fish samples, followed by Carassius auratus, and Cyprinus caspio. Risk assessment of sediment showed that heptachlor epoxide had a higher occurrence possibility of adverse ecological effects to benthic species. Based on the calculation of acceptable daily intake and hazard ratio, HCHs in fish and shrimps from Nansi Lake had a lifetime cancer risk of greater than one per million. The risk assessment of water, sediment, and fish indicated the water environment of Nansi Lake is at a safe level at present.

Preconcentration and determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in environmental water samples by solid-phase microextraction with Fe3O4-coated bamboo charcoal fibers prior to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

In this paper, bamboo charcoals were modified using Fe3O4 nanosheets for the first time. The composites, as a novel solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber coating, were used for the extraction of seven polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in environmental water samples. The extraction factors (stirring rate, extraction time, and ionic strength) and desorption factors (desorption time and desorption temperature) of the fibers were systematically investigated and optimized. Under optimum conditions, the linear range was 1-1000 ng L(-1). Based on the ratio of chromatographic signal to base line noise (SN(-1)=3), the limits of detection (LODs) can reach 0.25-0.62 ng L(-1). The novel method was successful in the analysis of PBDEs in real environmental water samples. The results indicate that bamboo charcoal/Fe3O4 as an SPME coating material coupled with gas chromatography-negative chemical ionization-mass spectrometry is an excellent method for the routine analysis of PBDEs at trace levels in environmental water samples.