Effects of Priestia aryabhattai on Phosphorus Fraction and Implications for Ecoremediating Cd-Contaminated Farmland with Plant-Microbe Technology.

The application of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria has been widely studied in remediating Cd-contaminated soil, but only a few studies have reported on the interaction of P and Cd as well as the microbiological mechanisms with phosphate-solubilizing bacteria in the soil because the activity of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria is easily inhibited by the toxicity of Cd. This paper investigates the phosphorus solubilization ability of Priestia aryabhattai domesticated under the stress of Cd, which was conducted in a soil experiment with the addition of Cd at different concentrations. The results show that the content of Ca2-P increased by 5.12-19.84%, and the content of labile organic phosphorus (LOP) increased by 3.03-8.42% after the addition of Priestia aryabhattai to the unsterilized soil. The content of available Cd decreased by 3.82% in the soil with heavy Cd contamination. Priestia aryabhattai has a certain resistance to Cd, and its relative abundance increased with the increased Cd concentration. The contents of Ca2-P and LOP in the soil had a strong positive correlation with the content of Olsen-P (p < 0.01), while the content of available Cd was negatively correlated with the contents of Olsen-P, Ca2-P, and LOP (p < 0.05). Priestia aryabhattai inhibits the transport of Cd, facilitates the conversion of low-activity P and insoluble P to Ca2-P and LOP in the soil, and increases the bioavailability and seasonal utilization of P in the soil, showing great potential in ecoremediating Cd-contaminated farmland soil with plant-microbe-combined technology.

Platelet-leukocyte aggregates - a predictor for acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most common complications after cardiac surgery. However, effective biomarker used for early diagnosis of AKI has not been identified. Platelet-leukocyte aggregates (PLAs) participate in inflammation and coagulation, leading to vascular lesions and tissue destruction. We designed a prospective study to assess whether PLAs can serve as a good biomarker for early diagnosis of AKI after cardiac surgery. METHODS: Patients with rheumatic heart disease scheduled to undergo valve replacement surgery were enrolled. Blood samples were collected at five timepoints as follows: (a) At baseline. (b) At the end of extracorporeal circulation. (c) Arrival at intensive care unit (ICU). (d) Four-hours after the admission to ICU. (e) Twenty hours after the admission to ICU. After collection, the samples were immediately used for PLAs measurement by flow cytometry. RESULTS: A total of 244 patients were registered, and 15 of them were diagnosed with AKI according to the serum creatinine of KDIGO guidelines. The PLAs levels in AKI group were significantly increased 20 h after surgery (two-way repeated measure analysis of variance, p < 0.01) compared with that at baseline. Patients whose preoperative PLAs were higher than 6.8% showed increased risk of developing AKI (multivariate logistic regression; p = 0.01; adjusted odds ratio, 1.05; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.09). CONCLUSION: PLAs is an independent risk factor for AKI after valve replacement among patients with rheumatic heart disease.

The Inhibitory Effect of Abietic Acid on Melanoma Cancer Metastasis and Invasiveness In Vitro and In Vivo.

Melanoma cell metastasis is the primary cause of patient death. Thus, various treatment strategies have been developed to prevent metastasis. Abietic acid (AA) is an organic compound commonly found in trees. This study is aimed to investigate the antimetastatic activity of AA in B16F10-xenografted C57BL/6 mice and assess the anticancer activity of AA in combination with Taxol in melanoma cells. AA effectively reduced the formation of lung metastases by approximately 92.8%. AA treatment inhibited migratory potential (p < 0.001), invasion (p < 0.001), and motility (p < 0.001) of highly metastatic B16F10 melanoma cells in vitro. Zymography revealed that AA reduced the proteinase activities of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and urokinase-type plasminogen activator. Molecular analyses showed that AA reduced Akt phosphorylation and activating protein-1 DNA-binding activity by Western blot and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), respectively. In summary, AA effectively inhibited B16F10 lung metastasis, and 50[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]M AA did not affect the viability of B16F10 cells. AA improved the efficacy of Taxol and demonstrated strong anticancer activity on melanoma cells. These results suggested that AA could be used as an antimetastatic agent or as an adjuvant for anticancer therapy.