Complete genome sequence data of Leuconostoc mesenteroides KNU-2 and Weissella hellenica MBEL1842 isolated from kimchi.

Kimchi, a traditional Korean fermented food, contains many lactic acid bacteria. Leuconostoc mesenteroides KNU-2 strain with low-temperature tolerance and Weissella hellenica MBEL1842 with antibacterial activity were isolated from kimchi. The genomes of L. mesenteroides KNU-2 and W. hellenica MBEL1842 are composed of one circular chromosomal genome of 1,973,419 bp (37.9% G+C content) and 1,887,056 bp (37.9% G+C content), as well as four and one plasmids, respectively, The sequence data of the strains were deposited in GenBank under the accession numbers CP089782 (L. mesenteroides KNU-2) and CP086020 (W. hellenica MBEL1842).

Effect of stress hyperglycemia and intensive rehabilitation therapy in non-diabetic hemorrhagic stroke: Korean Stroke Cohort for Functioning and Rehabilitation.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We investigated the effect of stress hyperglycemia on the functional outcomes of non-diabetic hemorrhagic stroke. In addition, we investigated the usefulness of intensive rehabilitation for improving functional outcomes in patients with stress hyperglycemia. METHODS: Non-diabetic hemorrhagic stroke patients were recruited and divided into two groups: intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) (n = 165) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) (n = 156). Each group was divided into non-diabetics with or without stress hyperglycemia. Functional assessments were performed at 7 days and 3, 6 and 12 months after stroke onset. The non-diabetic with stress hyperglycemia groups were again divided into two groups who either received or did not receive intensive rehabilitation treatment. Serial functional outcome was compared between groups. RESULTS: For the ICH group, patients with stress hyperglycemia had worse modified Rankin Scale, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Functional Ambulatory Category and Korean Mini-Mental State Examination scores than patients without stress hyperglycemia. For the SAH group, patients with stress hyperglycemia had worse scores on all functional assessments than patients without stress hyperglycemia at all time-points. After intensive rehabilitation treatment of patients with stress hyperglycemia, the ICH group had better scores on Functional Ambulatory Category and the SAH group had better scores on all functional assessments than patients without intensive rehabilitation treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Stress hyperglycemia affects the long-term prognosis of non-diabetic hemorrhagic stroke patients. Among stress hyperglycemia patients, intensive rehabilitation can enhance functional improvement after stroke.

Transcriptional profiling with a pathway-oriented analysis in the placental villi of unexplained miscarriage.

INTRODUCTION: Miscarriage is the most common placental-related complication of pregnancy. It has been extensively investigated to discover the underlying mechanism(s) by which miscarriage occurs, but in many cases the etiology still remains unclear. The aim of this study was to analyze genome-wide expression profiles of placental villi (PV) from unexplained miscarriage with a pathway-oriented method for identifying underlying mechanism(s) of unexplained miscarriage. METHODS: We investigated PV of 18 women with unexplained miscarriage and 11 women underwent normal pregnancy. Each PV was obtained through dilatation & evacuation and chorionic villous sampling, respectively. Genome-wide expression profiles of PV were analyzed by Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to find dysregulated signaling pathways in PV of unexplained miscarriage. RESULTS: Unsupervised hierarchical clustering showed heterogeneity of expression profiles between PV of normal developing pregnancy and unexplained miscarriage. GSEA, a supervised analysis, with KEGG pathways revealed that several gene sets associated with mitochondrial function including glutathione metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation are dysregulated in PV from unexplained miscarriage. RT-PCR, real-time RT-PCR and/or immunohistochemistry reinforced that expression of genes constituting these gene sets enriched in normal pregnancy and Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase was down-regulated in PV of unexplained miscarriage. DISCUSSION: Structural vulnerability of placental villi for reactive oxygen species (ROS), which is caused by systemic down-regulation of mitochondrial pathways involved in mitochondrial redox balance and functions, aggravates oxidative stress with increased ROS production in PV of unexplained miscarriage. CONCLUSION: Systemic vulnerability for ROS in PV could be a major cause of unexplained miscarriage.