Corrigendum: Isolation, identification, biological characteristics, and antifungal efficacy of sodium bicarbonate combined with natamycin on Aspergillus niger from Shengzhou nane (Prunus salicina var. taoxingli) fruit.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1075033.].

Isolation, identification, biological characteristics, and antifungal efficacy of sodium bicarbonate combined with natamycin on Aspergillus niger from Shengzhou nane (Prunus salicina var. taoxingli) fruit.

The fungi causing fruit rot were isolated from symptomatic Shengzhou nane (Prunus salicina var. taoxingli) fruit and were identified as Aspergillus niger by biological characteristics and molecular analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region (rDNA-ITS) and translation elongation factor-1α (TEF-1α) sequences. Optimal growth conditions for A. niger were 30°C, pH 5.0-6.0, and fructose and peptone as carbon and nitrogen sources. The effects of sodium bicarbonate (SBC), natamycin (NT), and combined treatments on A. niger inhibition were investigated. Treatment with 4.0 g/L sodium bicarbonate (SBC) + 5.0 mg/L natamycin (NT) inhibited mycelial growth and spore germination as completely as 12.0 mg/L SBC or 25.0 mg/L NT. SBC and NT treatments disrupted the structural integrity of cell and mitochondria membranes and decreased enzyme activities involved in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), ATP production in mitochondria, and ergosterol content in the plasma membrane, thus leading to the inhibition of A. niger growth. Moreover, experimental results in vivo showed that the rot lesion diameter and decay rate of Shengzhou nane fruit treated with SBC and NT were significantly reduced compared with the control. The results suggest that the combination treatment of SBC and NT could be an alternative to synthetic fungicides for controlling postharvest Shengzhou nane decay caused by A. niger.

Prognostic value of non-invasive fibrosis indices post-curative resection in hepatitis-B-associated hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

IMPACT STATEMENT: Non-invasive fibrosis indices, according to regular laboratory and clinical data, could be useful in assessing liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis patients. However, the role of these biomarkers remains unclear in predicting the outcome of HBV-associated HCC in patients. This study was carried out retrospectively and included a relatively large sample size (n = 405) with a heterogeneous population of HBV infected patients and longer duration of prospective follow-up. Our study suggested that APRI and Fibro-α Scores are inversely correlated with overall survival in HBV-associated HCC patients. Meanwhile, GUCI, King Score, and APRI were highly correlated with cirrhosis status. Also, in subgroups of cirrhosis or non-cirrhosis, Fibro-α Scores could differentiate patients with good prognosis from those with poor outcome. This result would aid clinicians in acquiring preventive and therapeutic methods in patients with high risk.

Preventive Electroacupuncture Ameliorates D-Galactose-Induced Alzheimer's Disease-Like Pathology and Memory Deficits Probably via Inhibition of GSK3ß/mTOR Signaling Pathway.

Acupuncture has been practiced to treat neuropsychiatric disorders for a thousand years in China. Prevention of disease by acupuncture and moxibustion treatment, guided by the theory of Chinese acupuncture, gradually draws growing attention nowadays and has been investigated in the role of the prevention and treatment of mental disorders such as AD. Despite its well-documented efficacy, its biological action remains greatly invalidated. Here, we sought to observe whether preventive electroacupuncture during the aging process could alleviate learning and memory deficits in D-galactose-induced aged rats. We found that preventive electroacupuncture at GV20-BL23 acupoints during aging attenuated the hippocampal loss of dendritic spines, ameliorated neuronal microtubule injuries, and increased the expressions of postsynaptic PSD95 and presynaptic SYN, two important synapse-associated proteins involved in synaptic plasticity. Furthermore, we observed an inhibition of GSK3ß/mTOR pathway activity accompanied by a decrease in tau phosphorylation level and prompted autophagy activity induced by preventive electroacupuncture. Our results suggested that preventive electroacupuncture can prevent and alleviate memory deficits and ameliorate synapse and neuronal microtubule damage in aging rats, which was probably via the inhibition of GSK3ß/mTOR signaling pathway. It may provide new insights for the identification of prevention strategies of AD.

Prognostic significance of Daxx NCR (Nuclear/Cytoplasmic Ratio) in gastric cancer.

In addition to regulating apoptosis via its interaction with the death domain of Fas receptor, death domain associated protein 6 (Daxx) is also known to be involved in transcriptional regulation, suggesting that the function of Daxx depends on its subcellular localization. In this study, we aimed to explore Daxx subcellular localization in gastric cancer (GC) cells and correlate the findings with clinical data in GC patients. Seventy pairs of tissue samples (GC and adjacent normal tissue) were analyzed immunohistochemically for Daxx expression and localization (nuclear and cytoplasmic). The Daxx Nuclear/Cytoplasmic ratio (Daxx NCR) values in tissue microarray data with 522 tumor samples were further analyzed. The defined Prior cohort (n = 277, treatment between 2006 and 2009) and Recent cohort (n = 245, treatment between 2010 and 2011) were then used to examine the relationship between Daxx NCR and clinical data. The Daxx NCR was found to be clinically informative and significantly higher in GC tissue. Using Daxx NCR (risk ratio = 2.0), both the Prior and Recent cohorts were divided into high- and low-risk groups. Relative to the low-risk group, the high-risk patients had a shorter disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in both cohorts. Importantly, postoperative chemotherapy was found having differential effect on high- and low-risk patients. Such chemotherapy brought no survival benefit, (and could potentially be detrimental,) to high-risk patients after surgery. Daxx NCR could be used as a prognosis factor in GC patients, and may help select the appropriate population to benefit from chemotherapy after surgery.

ROS-mediated autophagy was involved in cancer cell death induced by novel copper(II) complex.

In this study, we investigated autophagy induced in HeLa cells by copper(II) complex of ethyl 2-[bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amino] propionate ligand (ETDPA) (formula: [(ETDPA)Cu(phen)](ClO4)2 (abbreviated as LCu),a novel synthetic copper(II) complex whose DNA binding activity has been proved. Cell viability, autophagic levels and generation of ROS were evaluated following the exposure to LCu. LCu-induced cell death in a dose- and time-dependent manner, which was demonstrated by enhanced fluorescence intensity of monodansylcadervarine (MDC), as well as elevated expression of autophagy-related protein MAP-LC3. These phenomena were all attenuated after pretreatment with autophagy inhibitors 3-MA or NH(4)Cl. Furthermore, our data indicated that LCu-triggered autophagy through ROS: cellular ROS levels were increased after LCu treatment, which was reversed by ROS scavenger NAC (N-acetylcysteine). As a consequence, Lcu-mediated autophagy was partly blocked by NAC. In summary, we synthesized a novel copper(II) complex and showed that this compound was effective in killing HeLa cells via ROS-triggered autophagic pathway.