Effects of probiotic treatment on patients and animals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized control trials.

Objective: In recent years, the lung-gut axis has received increasing attention. The oxidative stress and systemic hypoxia occurring in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are related to gut dysfunction. That suggests probiotics have a potential therapeutic role in COPD. In this study, we therefore evaluated the ameliorative effects of probiotics on COPD. Methods: Searches were conducted in four electronic databases, including PubMed, Cochrane Library, the NIH clinical registry Clinical Trials. Gov and EMBASE. The data extracted was analyzed statistically in this study using StataMP17 software, with mean difference (MD) chosen as the effect size for continuous variables, and the results expressed as effect sizes and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Standardized Mean Difference (SMD) was used if the data units were different. Results: We included three randomized, controlled, double-blind clinical trials and five randomized controlled animal studies. The results show that for lung function, probiotics improved %FEV1 in COPD patients (MD = 3.02, 95%CI: 1.10, 4.93). Additionally, in inflammation, probiotics increased IL-10 (SMD = 1.99, 95%CI: 1.02, 2.96) and decreased inflammatory markers such as TNF-α (SMD= -2.64, 95%Cl: -3.38, -1.90), IL-1ß (SMD= -3.49, 95%Cl: -4.58, -2.40), and IL-6 (SMD= -6.54, 95%Cl: -8.36, -4.73) in COPD animals, while having no significant effect on C-reactive protein (MD = 0.30, 95%CI: -0.71, 1.32) in COPD patients. For lung structure, probiotics significantly reduced the degree of pulmonary collagen fibers deposition in COPD animals (SMD = -2.25, 95%CI: -3.08, -1.41). Conclusion: Overall, probiotics may be an additional approach that can improve COPD. Further clinical trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and impact factors of probiotics for COPD. Systematic Review Registration: https://inplasy.com/inplasy-2023-4-0023/, identifier INPLASY202340023.

Biogeographic patterns and drivers of soil viromes.

Viruses are crucial in shaping soil microbial functions and ecosystems. However, studies on soil viromes have been limited in both spatial scale and biome coverage. Here we present a comprehensive synthesis of soil virome biogeographic patterns using the Global Soil Virome dataset (GSV) wherein we analysed 1,824 soil metagenomes worldwide, uncovering 80,750 partial genomes of DNA viruses, 96.7% of which are taxonomically unassigned. The biogeography of soil viral diversity and community structure varies across different biomes. Interestingly, the diversity of viruses does not align with microbial diversity and contrasts with it by showing low diversity in forest and shrubland soils. Soil texture and moisture conditions are further corroborated as key factors affecting diversity by our predicted soil viral diversity atlas, revealing higher diversity in humid and subhumid regions. In addition, the binomial degree distribution pattern suggests a random co-occurrence pattern of soil viruses. These findings are essential for elucidating soil viral ecology and for the comprehensive incorporation of viruses into soil ecosystem models.

Longitudinal Relations Between School Climate and Prosocial Behavior: The Mediating Role of Gratitude.

Purpose: The school climate, which refers to the quality and character of school life, is associated with a wide range of developmental outcomes. Although researchers have shown considerable interest in uncovering the links between school climate and prosocial behavior, the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. Therefore, the current study was designed to investigate the mediating role of gratitude between school climate and adolescents' prosocial behavior. Methods: A sample of 632 Chinese adolescents (363 girls and 269 boys; Mage = 16.83 years at time 1, SD = 0.68 years) completed a battery of sociometric and self-report questionnaires that measured school climate, gratitude, and prosocial behavior in three waves. Results: Correlation analysis showed that school climate, gratitude, and prosocial behavior were all significantly and positively intercorrelated across the three waves. Importantly, gratitude completely mediated the relationship between school climate and prosocial behavior (ß = 0.005 [95% confidence interval = 0.001, 0.013]) in the three-wave longitudinal mediation model. Conclusion: As a positive disposition, gratitude fosters prosocial behavior and serves as a mediator between school climate and prosocial behavior. This study provides a theoretical explanation for cultivating adolescents' prosocial behavior and theoretical guidelines for interventions of schools and other socializing agents.

Synthesis of Vinyl Trifluoromethyl Thioethers via Copper-Mediated Trifluoromethylthiolation of Vinyl Bromides.

A copper-mediated trifluoromethylthiolation of vinyl bromides has been developed. This method provides ready access to vinyl trifluoromethyl thioethers in good to high yields from simple, inexpensive starting materials. A broad substrate scope is achieved, and the reaction is compatible with various functional groups, including cyano, nitro, trifluoromethyl, alkoxy, amino, halide, and heterocyclic groups.

Small GTPase Rab37 targets tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 for exocytosis and thus suppresses tumour metastasis.

Rab small GTPases are master regulators of membrane trafficking and guide vesicle targeting. Recent publications show that Rab-controlled trafficking pathways are altered during tumorigenesis. However, whether any of the Rabs plays a metastasis suppressor role is least explored. Here we address the metastasis suppressive function of human Rab37 (hRAB37) using secretomics, cell, animal and clinical analyses. We show that tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP1), a secreted glycoprotein that inhibits extracellular matrix turnover, is a novel cargo of hRAB37. hRAB37 regulates the exocytosis of TIMP1 in a nucleotide-dependent manner to inactivate matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) migration axis in vitro and in vivo. Dysfunction of hRAB37 or TIMP1 abrogates metastasis suppression. Lung cancer patients with metastasis and poor survival show low hRAB37 protein expression coinciding with low TIMP1 in tumours. Our findings identify hRAB37 as a novel metastasis suppressor Rab that functions through the TIMP1-MMP9 pathway and has significant prognostic power.

Poly[bis-{µ-N'-[(pyridin-4-yl)methyl-idene]benzohydrazidato}copper(II)].

In the title complex, [Cu(C13H10N3O)2] n , the copper(II) cation is located on a crystallographic inversion centre and adopts an elongated octa-hedral coordination geometry with the equatorial plane provided by trans-arranged bis-N,O-chelating acyl-hydrazine groups from two ligands and the apices by the N atoms of two pyridine rings belonging to symmetry-related ligands. The ligand adopts a Z conformation about the C=N double bond. The dihedral angle between the pyridine and phenyl rings is 2.99 (13)°. An intra-ligand C-H⋯N hydrogen bond is observed. In the crystal, each ligand bridges two adjacent metal ions, forming a (4,4) grid layered structure. π-π stacking inter-actions [centroid-centroid distances in the range 3.569 (4)-3.584 (9) Å] involving rings of adjacent layers result in the formation of a three-dimensional supra-molecular network.

Frequent down-regulation of hRAB37 in metastatic tumor by genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in lung cancer.

We looked for the involvement tumor suppressor gene (TSG) in lung cancer in 17q25 region by loss of heterozygosity analysis and 5'/3' RACE and identified a candidate gene named human RAB37 (hRAB37), which encodes a small GTPase. The Ras-GTPase superfamily functions as important regulators including membrane trafficking and cytoskeletal organization. Therefore, we further examined the mRNA expression and promoter/exon1 hypermethylation of hRAB37 gene in paired normal and tumor lung tissue from 71 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Low hRAB37 mRNA expression occurred in 47.9% (34/71) of patient and promoter/exon1 hypermethylation of hRAB37 was found in 57.7% (41/71) of patients. Low mRNA expression of hRAB37 was significantly associated with their promoter/exon1 hypermethylation. Importantly, a reduction in hRAB37 mRNA expression and promoter/exon1 hypermethylation was found to be significantly associated with lung metastatic patients as compared to non-metastatic patients. 5-Aza-2-deoxycytidine treatment of a highly metastatic cell line showed demethylation and re-expression of the hRAB37 gene and coincided with reduced migration. Knockdown of hRAB37 in low metastasis cell line led to a significant increase in cell migration. Our findings demonstrated that hRAB37 small GTPase and acts as a metastasis-related TSG in lung cancer. Promoter/exon1 methylation is the predominant mechanism in down-regulation of the hRAB37, and can serve as a potential prediction biomarker of NSCLC progression.